The Only Protectus
by Ophelias Diary
Summary: The feud between the Basilica and Snape line continues, will Siana and Severus find their precarious relationship strengthened during the war?
1. Chapter 1

**Spoilers:** PS/SS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA.. Written between Goblet of Fire and Order of Phoenix.   
**Genre:** Action, Angst  
**Era:** Multiple Eras  
**Main Character(s):** Severus Snape, Original Female Witch  
**Ship(s):** None  
**Summary:** Siana has found the first of many answers, and Snape has returned from his encounter with Voldemort. When Siana finds herself back at Hogwarts to continue looking for answers about her strange abilities, and her even stranger wand, she encounters a Snape entirely different to the one she knew before. The Death Eaters and Voldemort are hunting her, and she herself is experiencing strange symptoms to the one thing that could possibly help her.   
**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**The Only Protectus **

**Chapter 1; Sanctuary **

_The leaves seem to mock me. _

_In fact it's not so much mocking, as a quiet laughter. Amused. It's so funny to them, how I find myself here...brooding and tired. Exhausted from living a life which others abhor and I, I embrace with no large difficulties. _

_I can't pretend that I don't admire the sinfulness of what I am occasionally. _

_Yet what I am often finds me here, with the leaves mocking me, yes it's mocking. There is a dark beauty about this place, and sometimes I imagine myself brewing potions in a place like this. Complementing the dark beauty. This is an impossibility, I am out of place in any beauty, whether dark or light. I'm not some gullible moron, I know where I fit and where I do not. _

_Unfortunately I am the diamond peg looking at the oval hole. Almost there. Almost. Yet there will be no merging, no subtle blending, no cohesiveness. For I am not a sharing person, and I will not adhere like hoof glue if I choose not to. _

_And I know, I have been made a fool. _

_I don't carry explanations which are delayed with riddles and rhymes. The Headmaster think he can appease me with hints and tricks, he assumes that I will find out for myself what the answer is. That I even care to. The truth to that, is that I am not patient, nor am I concerned with the answer. I am content to believe what I want to believe, in the knowledge that I am right. _

_She betrayed me. _

_There the leaves go again, mocking me again. It's almost as if they would change their shape just to reinforce their message, I wonder if I'm being an imbecile. I severely doubt it. I'm not prone to bouts of fine stupidity, not anymore. Although it seems that others still wish to try to play me for the fool. They've all betrayed me. Even the Forbidden Forest has turned sour on itself. Yet maybe this is just my perception, my penchant for seeing the worst. _

_Not that I would consider myself unrealistic in my pessimism, nor brutal in my bitterness. There is reason for hostility and rationality in my cynicism. Those that see flaws in it are idealistic or optimistic fools...they may never see the truth in my nature..._

_But then. _

_I may never see the truth in my nature. _

_And all the potions in the world do not stop me from noticing that the leaves still manage to mock me. _

His black cloak rippled silently as he stood, and his eyes rippled around his surroundings. His eyes, black, hooded, unfathomable and ultimately as black as the clothing he wore. They complemented an angular and sculpted face framed by eternally greasy hair. Hair which hung in clotted strands just past his jaw bone, that emphasised the pale pallor of one who spent too much time in darkness.

One hand was absent, hiding in the folds of his robe, curled around his wand. He rarely entered the Forbidden Forest without one hand resting on his wand. The other was flat on his stomach, resting. His arm was in a slight curl. In fact, many times when he knew no one could see him, he rested his arm in this position. He had received an injury many years ago which now caused him pain in his chest on a regular basis. Shifting his arm was the only action that eased it.

He did not like other people to know that he could be vulnerable.

He sniffed disdainfully at the thought that anyone would even deign to watch him in his private sanctuary. No one knew it was there, not even Dumbledore had ever indicated he knew of it. The fact remained though that Severus Snape was always on his guard. Safe places had been violated before, he had either done the violating, or been violated. Either way, sanctuaries were never safe for long.

Quietly, like a black panther, he moved out of the little grove of trees. His eyes were bright and alert, his face set into a grim expression. As he emerged from his grove a small shimmering clouded his vision, he moved through an invisible protective shield; one that prevented humans from entering his space, but not beasts, he liked to see the animals move through the grove, unimpeded, while the humans unconsciously avoided it, not even knowing why.

He was proud of his shields, it was one of the few things he excelled aside from the art of potions making. Of course, potions he had always been good at and interested in, shield making he only developed much later in life...when it had been a necessity.

His eyes half closed for a moment as he remembered the first time he had needed a shield. He had thought he was only protecting himself from some vengeful Death Eaters, but no, some of the most powerful people in the wizarding world had hated him for the crimes he committed. He didn't only attack those against Voldemort, but he also attacked the supporters of Voldemort that were useless...the ones that would unwittingly expose him. Shields and hexes, the dark arts and protective potions would be the only things that protected him until Dumbledore had broken through it all, just to talk to him.

Severus sighed and absently moved back into his grove of trees, letting his force field sparkle against his eyes once again. It seemed he was not finished with his thoughts, or his melancholy. There was no point in going back to the castle in this mood, and there was no point in going back to the castle for at least a few hours anyway. Sanctuary was something that seemed to recharge him, for the students and the teachers in Hogwarts only seemed to drain him of energy.

All the potions in the world did not stop him from feeling exhausted after every working day, maintaining facades, maintaining loyalties.

He shuddered deeply, to his very core, as he thought of his last visit with Voldemort. The last visit which had very nearly seen his death more than once, which had seen him struggle to get back to Hogwarts, bleeding and almost incoherent as he fought to rid himself of the effects of about ten different hexes. Voldemort had been relatively merciful considering how suspicious he had been, what with Frederick Basilica rallying against him, and his own integrity coming into play.

It was only natural after all, Snape _was_ betraying Voldemort.

The pain had been overwhelming, from the moment he had arrived to the moment he had left. Voldemort loved to see Snape in pain, and generally left him in that state until he said what the Dark Lord wanted to hear. The bluff had been simple, that he had been keeping the Basilica to himself, until he could find the right time to deliver her. Then of course, he had been punished for his selfishness.

_Actually, when I drift back, I don't think I recall exactly what I was punished for. Of course, Voldemort's right is to punish one for any crime. Perhaps breathing. _

Severus knew that Voldemort would keep him under effects of the Cruciatus curse for as long as he could, stopping just before madness consumed him. After all he believed Snape was still useful at Hogwarts, and didn't want to drive him insane. Snape knew he played a dangerous card, but bitterness made him reckless and despair made him careless. 

_There are only so many times you can beat a dog with a same stick..._

His eyes squeezed closed. Frederick Basilica, whom he had never seen so crazed with anger, had been allowed full use of Severus Snape in the private rooms. Voldemort had felt like rewarding one, punishing the other, and most knew that the best reward for Frederick was private time with some other person. 

The pain had been overwhelming, but the humiliation had been something else entirely. Assaulted by the one who had destroyed his family, raped by the one who would see him in Azkaban and the one who had him tortured, tortured until he was very close to self inducing coma. Frederick Basilica was cheerful and vicious, a sickly combination...and throughout the whole time, throughout his whole imprisonment, he had begun to realise who was at the bottom of all of it.

_And if I see her again, I will destroy her, so help me I'll make her crumple under the pressure of my wrath. _

He started to burn with hatred and briefly thrust his palm against one of the trees, raking it forcefully down the bark, serrating his skin. The slight, mild, almost indistinguishable twinges of pain kept him grounded. The hatred retreated, bubbled somewhere deep inside of him, in the well where he kept all his hatred.

The well was so full now, it couldn't help but overflow.

He pressed his back to the tree that he had brutalised his hand with before, his eyes closed against the world. He loathed feeling sorry for himself on a regular basis, but could not escape his depressions when he returned from the company of the Death Eaters. He sensed Dumbledore knew this, the Headmaster always seemed more...gentle? He winced, that wasn't it exactly...

And blessedly all the other teachers gave him a wide berth. Most of them avoided him anyway, he wasn't exactly the favourite teacher. People liked him less than Argus Filch... 

Severus exhaled through his nose and decided that enough was enough. He was turning to go when a sensation intruded upon his hearing. It was a noise, so faint he could not distinguish. His eyes narrowed with suspicion, his heart sped up, his hand went to his wand and clenched it. His ears turned his head towards some undergrowth to his right. His lip curled. Just because no one had broken into his sanctuary before, didn't mean that no one ever would.

The bush shook a little, vibrated almost. It wasn't enough to indicate a shape large enough to be human, but there were plenty of creatures out there, small yet dangerous...then there was the issue of an Animagus.

_She was one of those too. Conniving woman. _

He crouched low, his eyes peering - black holes - through the shadows of the bushes. He could make out a small shape...a shape that wasn't positioned to attack. _Small relief. _It seemed cowered amongst the branches, and its trembling was causing the bush to shake. 

_Strange. _

His hand shot out lightning fast, and his hand clenched around the creature, which suddenly came alive under his hands. Like a charge of electricity the furred thing started to writhe and twist so violently that Snape grunted as he awkwardly withdrew it from the sharp branches. The thing spit, hissed and made strange growling noises that weren't quite feline.

He stood, holding it, and when one of its clawed paws struck against his hand he shook it viciously, angrily. His hand flicked violently and the creature snapped into silence. For a second he wondered if he'd killed it, it was so still.

Finally he was able to see what it was, and his eyes widened with surprise. _What are you doing in a bush all by yourself? You don't seem to be an Animagus...you're only...a cub. _His eyes went from wide to narrow as he took in the sight of the quivering fox. It's fur was incredibly soft, its eyes glittered in fear and something undefinable. It hadn't yet become the incredible red of an adult. It was incredibly young, and evidently starving. It was so thin each rib, each individual spinal bone stuck up in its body.

_How long have you been hiding there for? Maybe I should just put you out of your misery now. _

His other hand unclenched from around his wand and he placed his hand around the neck of the creature firmly. It did not struggle, merely looked at him with soft, glowing, yellow eyes.

'Well I'm going to kill you now, so if you are an Animagus, it would probably be a good idea to change back.' He told the creature calmly, his heart turning inside of him. He'd much rather kill a fox than deal with an Animagus. In fact some part of him was screaming vengeance, after all...couldn't Siana Basilica turn into some kind of fox? A protectus? He could simply imagine this spindly cub was her...he'd feel good for the first time in weeks.

His hand clenched spasmodically as he looked down at the cub's glowing eyes. It hadn't changed, it wasn't an Animagus. No one would give themselves so willingly to death, besides...only small animals in shock...or very frightened victims of Voldemort exhibited such surrender.

He could still not believe how thin and wiry the fox cub was. It looked as though it hadn't eaten in weeks. Forget that, it looked as though it hadn't eaten.

'How did you still manage to live hmm?' he said softly and the fox whined softly, a piteous sound. It stretched its head forward and licked Snape softly on the hand. Snape's eyes widened and he almost dropped it in shock. Affection? No. He held it up with the hand around its neck, and with his other hand he slowly approached its mouth. _If you bite, you die, if not...you can live a little longer. This is very interesting. _

The creature whimpered eagerly as the hand approached it and then as soon as it was in range started licking frantically, making weak noises of searching. It was half howling, half whimpering. Snape's eyes narrowed and his eyebrows raised as he tampered with a thought in his head. However his thoughts startled him, and he dropped the fox unthinkingly. It hit the ground with a little squeak.

Snape looked down to see if it would run into the cover of the bushes again, but it merely snuggled up against his shoes as though it couldn't bear to leave them.

_l...It looks as though I'm the first person who's showed any sign of affection to you. Even if it is the brutal attention of my short temper. Come here. _

He picked it up, gently this time, his mind forgetting vengeance and thoughts of Siana Basilica. The fox reminded him strongly of his cat, Coal. He had never had a pet since, had sworn against them, but Coal had also been this trusting. Snape had not been a particularly nice child, not cruel, but not nice, and Coal had persisted. Persisted so much that one day Snape found himself declaring that the cat was his. 

'You svelte thing,' he said softly and examined the fox more closely as he cradled the creature in his hands. It was a female, more thin on closer inspection. He had never seen an animal so thin, that had remained alive before. Its eyes were clouded with desperation and suddenly he knew that it did not have all that long to live.

This fox had been using his sanctuary as its own home...and it hadn't been found, or eaten by any of the flesh hungry monsters of the Forbidden Forest. It had to be a canny animal. Foxes were cunning, yes, and smart...he could train it perhaps. It could deliver messages for him, as long as he didn't get bored with it and kill it in the meantime.

It was going to die if he didn't do something fast.

The idea that came to his mind made his lips curl with revulsion...but he decided to trust his instincts, after all - they were one of the few things that made any sense to him anymore.

'So it's definitely not an Animagus?' Snape said softly as he looked down at the little fox that was now quietly and delicately picking up pieces of raw meat with its tapered muzzle.

'It's just a very fragile little canine right now. Do you want to leave it here for Hagrid to pick up?' The Headmaster Dumbledore asked as he surveyed the fox eating off his floor gravely. Fawkes was watching it from the corner, looking haughty and impassive. Hanging from his perch were two owl wing feathers.

'Hagrid?' Snape said, looking up at Dumbledore's pensive expression.

'Or had you already intended to keep it for yourself?' Dumbledore said with a slow smile and Severus Snape bit his lower lip, running his tongue across it slowly. He had intended to keep it for himself, but he didn't know why. He didn't really have any use for an animal, he didn't like keeping them...and he had no patience for living creatures. He rarely even had patience for himself.

However his mind kept reminding him that he had found it in his own sanctuary, that it had held on this long. It was a survivor, a skeletal survivor who had, without fear, licked his hand.

'I have uses for it,' Snape said vaguely and Dumbledore sighed.

'I wasn't aware that raw fox was a component for any potion.'

Snape's lip curled up into a half smile as he caught the amused tone in the Headmaster's voice. Meanwhile the fox had finished eating and trotted over to Snape's feet where it immediately huddled into a tiny ball and fell asleep. The potions master leant down and scooped it up into his hands, where it fit almost perfectly. It roused enough to give him a sleepy lick, and then fell off into sleep again.

'I can't decide whether it wants killing or not. It's such a pathetic thing, and I'm not the merciful type. Yet, I don't feel particularly inclined to destroy it, foxes are cunning creatures - made for a Slytherin master. I think it will have to be called Svelte, it will always be a sinuous creature.' He looked thoughtful and Dumbledore shook his head slowly.

'Your last encounter with Voldemort has altered you.'

'I know,' Snape said shortly, his hands clenching involuntarily around the small creature. His eyes became guarded, and he lost some of the smooth, dark charisma that usually accompanied him. He looked down at the fox, eyes unfocussed. His spine jerked suddenly and he moved to the window where the light cast his features into sharp relief. He looked world weary. His eyes appeared heated in darkness, his mouth was drawn in a very thin line.

'Well. Alterations can be for the best. Would you like some whiskey Severus?' Dumbledore said softly. 'You look as though you could do with something strong.' 

'She did it.'

'Did what Severus?' Dumbledore said, pausing in front of the cabinet that held all manner of intricate objects and precious trinkets, as well as the whiskey.

'She did it all, slaughtered an innocent, Stunned me...gave me no choice but to encounter Voldemort at a very inopportune time...left me in the hands of another quick witted and foul mouthed Basilica. It can all be traced back to her conniving mind...the blame falls on her shoulders.' He was talking calmly, but there was a horrible edge to his voice. The fox shuddered in his hands...Dumbledore sighed.

'It doesn't take a giant step of reason to realise that she's not the criminal. Let us review your encounter with Voldemort again, you weren't entirely coherent when you first arrived back at Hogwarts.' 

'If I find her, so help me, she'll wish she hadn't been born.' Snape's tone was laced with black hatred. Dumbledore's face was impassive, but his eyes glittered strangely then. His own mouth turned into a frown, his fingers interlaced and he returned back to his desk, sitting. There was silence in Dumbledore's office for a moment.

'You know as well as I do Severus, that if she returns, there will be a place for her here. She has a useful talent and a need for protection. Killing or harming her will not reverse any wrongs that have been committed in the past. You are not stupid enough to disregard this fact, you are only caught up in your vengeance.'

'I thought we were here to talk about Voldemort?' Snape muttered and Dumbledore grimaced.

'So did I.'

'I still have not been able to elicit why he wants Siana so much. I assumed it was a matter of blood, or bloodline...but Frederick is still alive, and Voldemort did order Macnair to kill the rest. So it's something unique. Something individual.'

'What did they ask you?'

'Just the usual. Am I still faithful, do I need a reminder about what will happen if I'm not faithful.' His voice became overcast with bitterness again and he turned away from the window to look at Dumbledore. 'They know she is a talented Animagus, but they do not know she is a double. They know she has a new wand - but not of its nature. They know she is no longer here. Frederick suggested he Portkey around the world to find her, but Voldemort quite effectively pointed out that the Portkeys could be traced, it was too dangerous. Personally, if she's so important to Voldemort, wouldn't it be better for everyone if she was just extinguished? He couldn't use her then,' he ground out and Dumbledore's eyes widened. He was shocked by the vituperative tone in Snape's voice...a tone usually only reserved for James Potter and his gang.

'Listen to me Severus. If there is something about her that Voldemort needs, then maybe that something could be used to harm him also. Another thing, please explain to me how you could go from asking to escort her and stay with her to Sibilant Stow to this abrupt change in attitude?'

'She's a manipulative little bitch,' he snarled and Dumbledore's eyes hardened then.

'I will not permit that attitude Severus. Kindly return to a presence of mind that holds within it some semblance of rationality.'

'All I know is one moment I'm understanding why I dislike her. She did murder my sister after all...and the next moment I'm telling her that I forgive her. That was _not _voluntary.'

'And did you ever stop to think Severus...that your encounter with Voldemort could have clouded your previous thoughts?' Dumbledore said wearily, it was useless arguing with Snape when he was in one of his moods. It seemed he had been in one of his moods since he had returned. His temper was volatile, he was more ill-mannered than usual. Friday had found him standing in the middle of a second floor corridor blasting Professor McGonagall for something that Dumbledore still didn't understand. 

'Maybe my encounter with the Dark Lord cleared my thoughts. I just need a few days to decide where I stand with the whole situation. It's highly unlikely that I'm about to declare my undying love for any Basilica, or Voldemort. No Dumbledore, I don't think you have to worry about my loyalties just yet,' Snape said softly, his eyes trailing over the tiny fox again. _Svelte. _

'Look after Svelte, Severus, she'll die if she isn't fed and watered regularly.'

Severus Snape grunted and flicked his hair back from his head with a jerk.

'Maybe she won't survive the night. It all depends on my patience. Care to intervene now?' Snape taunted softly, his tone melancholy. There was pain lining his face and Dumbledore wondered briefly if he was still experiencing hurt from his multiple injuries. He could tell that Snape's bitterness now was all talk, he wasn't going to kill Svelte, it wasn't in his nature anymore to kill an innocent animal. An innocent human maybe, but not an animal.

'Take tomorrow off Severus. I insist. It's not like you have that much work to do at the moment anyway. I'll see you in the Great Hall tomorrow night for dinner, I hear the elves are putting up a marvellous feast.'

'Marvellous,' Snape said dryly, his expression grim. However his eyes seemed to soften a little and as he started to walk to the door he said. 'Thank you, Dumbledore.'

With that he exited, his hands still cradling the fragile fox.


	2. Chapter 2

**Spoilers:** PS/SS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA.. Written between Goblet of Fire and Order of Phoenix.   
**Genre:** Action, Angst  
**Era:** Multiple Eras  
**Main Character(s):** None  
**Ship(s):** None  
**Summary:** Siana Basilica has found the first of many answers, and Severus Snape has returned from his encounter with Voldemort. When Siana finds herself back at Hogwarts to continue looking for answers about her strange abilities, and her even stranger wand, she encounters a Snape entirely different to the one she knew before. The Death Eaters and Voldemort are hunting her, and she herself is experiencing unusual symptoms to the one thing that could possibly help her.  
**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**The Only Protects **

**Chapter 2: A Small Revelation **

_Who would ever have thought I'd end up here? It's almost funny in a way, follow my heart, and I end up getting sunburnt, wondering how much longer it's going to take to get to Margaret River. Quaint sounding, English, considering it's near the aboriginal Yallingup. I love it. Love it. _

_Yet I'm scared. Fuck I'm scared. I haven't used my wand. I refuse to use it, which is really annoying. I'm travelling places via Muggle transport for that very reason. I mean I can't Portkey anywhere, they can trace me. Small relief that I know Frederick won't try and find me either that way. I can't Apparate, I don't trust anyone here enough to send me somewhere, and I haven't really seen all that many wizards or witches. _

_Well...there is Gary. He's a strange man, liking Muggle things so much...I guess he is Muggle born though. Muggles are strange...I still think Dad had something in being so well, condemning of them. Yet, Dumbledore seems to respect them. I don't know...it's all so confusing now, I'm questioning everything and I don't like that at all! Anyway, Gary, I like him. Though he's singing some song which I haven't heard before and right now it sounds as though a warthog is grunting. That's his singing. By Artemis I'd like to tell him to shut up, but he is helpful enough. _

_Shock of horrors when I got here really. I mean Ollivander sent me. That was nice of him, I was so desperate to find a cure for my wand, the Locarius spell, everything...and now I'm here. Oh well, I sort of trust Ollivander, after everything that has happened. _

_Severus...I want to see him again. I want to show him that I'm alright now, not prone to shocks of wildly debilitating magic or anything. I want to see that he's alright, not too badly hurt by seeing Lord Voldemort. I can't believe he went, how could he go like that when he knew that his life was in danger? Though...I still, I still want to know if he's alright. Like, really alright. I want to ask him if a relationship could work between us. _

_I want a lot of things. _

_I don't like Muggle cars at all. The scenery is nice though, and at least it's not me on the back of Cleansweep half killing myself. Ha. Ha. Never forget the time dear old Nathan took me out for a joyride and I broke two fingers. Then there's that other time when James bought his broom with him to the Basilican forest, and I accidentally levitated into an overhanging branch. Though James, and Black come to think of it, thought it was hilarious. No. I guess a muggle car is better than a broomstick, so long as I'm not driving. _

_The trees are great, and the weather, it's so warm! And brown, Perth is very brown. There are trees everywhere, so much temperate forest, and yet, it's not really all that green. It is beautiful though, I can understand why people would come here. Why people would stay. _

_I've seen one kangaroo so far. Road kill on the side of the road. Gary says that down in Margaret River most of the native animals are alive, and more numerous. He also says that the humans don't scare them away much there...they come out, and at twilight you can see them. _

_I wonder if my third Animagus could be a kangaroo? _

_Only that's sort of pointless. A kangaroo would stand out in an English forest. Bit stupid really. _

'Huh?' Siana said blankly as Gary poked her in the side as he was driving. Her black hair (dry and brittle from being exposed to the brutal sun) was flying out of the window, the offensive sun was burning her arm which was resting on her lap, already red and sore - sunscreen was not foolproof. Her eyes squinted as she looked at the tall, tanned and overweight wizard sitting next to her, in what could only be described as a shortened, tailored robe.

'I said, and on your right you'll see farmer Viti's vineyard. We played Quidditch out there on them fields until they put a road through here. Then it was too dangerous. But there are paddocks everywhere around here, so there's nothing to worry about there. Do you play?'

'No,' Siana said slowly. _No. I don't like to kill himself thanks. I'm not going to tell you exactly how uncoordinated I am, but most likely I'll fly headfirst into a tree and think I'd caught the bludger. _Her eyes flickered over the country side as her body itched with drying sweat. She wanted nothing more than to get inside somewhere that was freeze charmed.

'Oh. So what do you do then Miss Camille? I mean, I know you said that Ollivander had sent you, and that you had something to do with libraries, which sounds really...well...you don't seem to be the librarian type you know?' Gary said, his deep blue eyes appraising her attractive figure.

'Well you don't exactly seem like a wand manufacturer. Especially compared to Ollivander.'

'I just make 'em. I don't sell them. That's not my job, that's Whittle's job. You'll be meeting him. First stop really. Now he's as true blue a fellow as ever there is. Mate.' He chuckled. 'Ah I'm being an idiot. I shouldn't really try and exaggerate the accent more than I have to. Don't buy into it love,' he added on a side note and Siana fought to hide a smile. Since she had arrived, Gary had deliberately been laying on the Australian accent, almost melodramatising it. It was a relief to hear him say so.

'So you were telling me what you do?' he said then, continuing his flow of thought as he steered quickly around another narrow corner. The trees on either side of the road, growing so close and untidily together made Siana a little claustrophobic, but at least the sun wasn't so bright as they headed into a valley.

'Well there's my Transfiguration. I'd be a Professor of it now, were it not for the fact that I was expelled from Moreberries in my seventh year. Right at the end of final semester actually. That strikes me as unfortunate in retrospect.'

'Expelled? Why?' Gary said sharply and Siana froze. _Because I'm a murderer. _She had been leaving those sorts of thoughts behind, but when she had to think about her past, it was the first thing that came to mind.

'It's a long story. Sort of family related. Anyway, I've had a few articles published in _Transfiguration Today_ which is nice.'

'Huh,' Gary said nonchalantly, and Siana could tell that he was still hung up on the fact that she had been expelled. She sighed slowly and relaxed into her seat, it looked as though she had effectively stifled anymore communication for the rest of the trip. She forgot that being expelled was so condemned in the magical world. She had been raised with the Basilica's for over three quarters of her life, and now, at twenty seven...she was still quite sheltered. The Basilica's had never made a big deal of her being expelled.

Margaret River was a small town, near the beach, near the forests, near the caves...a tourist attraction to Muggles and magic folk alike. However they went straight through the centre of Margaret River (which consisted of a couple, busy streets) and headed off down a road until they reached a red dusty driveway leading off into an area of land flanked heavily by tall, forbidding pines.

The dusty driveway had a signpost, considerably out of place. It was made from finely polished jarrah, and it gleamed in the hot afternoon sun. Expertly carved into the post was the following:

_'Whittle Willow. Place of finely crafted wooden souvenirs and other bobs since settlement.' _

'Old man Whittle is actually a potions brewer by trade,' Gary said as he swung the car into the driveway. Siana felt her stomach lurch and she clung to the side of the vehicle, praying that she wouldn't be sick. 'He sells wands to pass the time, and because he's got an eye for what someone would need. He's been expecting you, Ollivander transatlantic owled him on ahead. Said you'd be needing some answers?' He said and raised an eyebrow at her.

While he was raising an eyebrow at her, he stopped looking at the road and Siana nodded, her mouth tightening into a grimace. He jerked the car rather roughly back onto the driveway when he looked ahead again.

_Oh for the love of Hades I'm going to die. _

She looked out of the front window and couldn't even see a house yet. Just a big dusty driveway and a few cows wandering around under the sun morosely. The pine trees stood sentry everywhere...they grew so closely together that it was like looking at a thick, green, fence. Siana was just about to ask Gary whether the trees were to prevent Muggle tourists from coming by when she changed her mind. She didn't want to encourage Gary to look at her again, she might regret the decision later.

They were coming up to the crest of a hill, dust flying out behind them, the sound of cicadas everywhere. Siana held her breath, expecting a house at the crest, however what she saw...astounded her.

They had moved into a valley, with a dam shaded by willow and peppermint trees, their long branches and swaths of green leaves teasing the waters edge. There was a large two storied house there, made of rammed earth, intelligently built to protect itself from the worst of the afternoon sun. The driveway moved into a cobbled car park, which in turn was lined with well trained rose hedges. Here the sun seemed to be forgotten (were it not for the fact that Siana knew she was still getting burnt).

'Yeah. It's nice down here. Make no mistake,' Gary said as he took in her astounded expression. He pulled into the driveway, and Siana got out of the car after spending a few seconds working the door handle. Gary however, stayed in the car.

'I'll be back here to pick you up in a few hours or so, but otherwise there's no point in my staying, love. Whittle's a good man, he's been expecting you, you just need to show yourself in. You've got that offensive wand there don't you?'

Siana nodded, she was constantly aware of its presence by her side.

'Right. Bye,' he said with a grin and then reversed quickly out of the driveway, careening back out of the property. Siana noticed that he was a much wilder driver when she was out of the car, she didn't know if that made her feel relieved or more wary.

Turning, she approached the house, her feet taking her down a brick path surrounded by carefully maintained red roses. She could feel heatwaves simmering off the path, and the sun beating down from up ahead. She couldn't wait to find some shade...heat was nice in moderation, but this was as hot as English winters could be cold. In some ways she couldn't wait to be back on familiar ground, at least back home, there wasn't a high risk of dehydration if you got lost in the forest. Although hypothermia was another thing entirely.

'Gus Whittle,' said a cheerful voice from the door and Siana looked up, surprised. Gus Whittle was a man that looked a bit like a slender and gnarled tree. His skin was the brown of too many summers, it looked like leather, his hair was thin and receding. His eyes were crinkled and kind, but unmistakably cheeky. There was something about him which struck Siana as intelligent and fun. No wonder Gary spoke so highly of him, though she hardly knew him, they seemed to have a lot in common.

'It's, I'm pleased to meet you,' she said awkwardly, following him inside the house which seemed to radiate coolness. _Freezing charm. _Her mouth curved into an impressed smile as she took in the d�cor, the beautiful and hand carved wooden furniture everywhere, the many adjoining rooms. 'I'm very grateful that you could see me. Mr. Ollivander said that you were an expert with problems and what have you...it's, really very great of...'

She trailed off as Gus Whittle started to laugh. She blushed, embarrassed, feeling as though she'd said something very out of place. A twinge of anger raced through her was well. She had only been expressing gratitude.

'Oh I'm not laughing at you. Look behind you love,' he said, his voice deep and reedy at the same time, as though sound had been stretched over his voice box. She turned slowly and in time to see a white parrot of some description drop a spoon onto a cat eating biscuits on the stone floor. The cat, black and disgruntled, looked up in anger and the parrot seemed to screech with laughter before flying mischievously away, just keeping out of the cats reach.

'That's a cocky for ya. Now come through. Oh don't worry about them lass, they'll be fine. Shiner is much too smart to let that old cat get to him. And that cat is much too smart to actually hurt Shiner. It's a love hate relationship.' He showed her into a small private room, at the end of the hall. There were two seats, and many cabinets. He closed a heavy wooden door behind them and then sat down as Siana did.

'So tell me what the problem seems to be. Ollivander wouldn't elaborate on the actual problem, probably because he didn't really understand it.'

Siana drew out her wand and handed it to Gus, a grimace etching itself across her face as he took the wand thoughtfully. He examined it, sniffed it thoughtfully and then shrugged.

'What's in it?'

'A phoenix tail feather, and a basilisk fang,' she said softly and the man's eyes widened with surprise. He looked at the wand again, much more closely. Examined the wood, ran his finger along the style, sniffed it a second time and then waved it, thoughtfully, towards the stone in the corner. A bright violet light shot out, turned briefly into a shimmering bird of some description, and then disappeared.

'Well. The basilisk fang. That's new for me too. Don't look so crestfallen love, doesn't mean I can't help you. I need to know a bit more about you though. You don't need to travel by disguises around me, you're protected here Miss Basilica. Ollivander told me who you are, and a little about your history,' he said the following quietly, with a raised eyebrow and Siana's gut jerked. She wondered if he knew about Lydia Snape, about the murder which had once rocked the wizarding world.

'So you know about...?' Siana left it hanging and Gus nodded as he handed the wand back to her.

'Ollivander says you're trustworthy so I can only assume it wasn't voluntary at the time. You don't look like the type to voluntarily do what I'm told you did. I'm a trusting person love, not many of us left around. Because I'm trusting, and I'm not na�ve. I don't trick easy, and I don't get the sense that you'd be the type to trick. Or trust.'

'I don't remember it. There's a potion...' She trailed off briefly wondering if indeed, Whittle was trustworthy.

'I could guess. And the reason I could guess it could be behind the problem you're having with that wand,' he said grimly and then leaned back in his chair. 'But we're not going to get anywhere unless you tell me what the problem is.'

'Ah. Right. It's, every time I cast a spell, it exacerbates what my intention is. I've never been good at casting spells anyway, but the ones I do cast usually result in minor explosions and what have you.'

'And do they work?'

'Often excessively,' Siana said with a swallow, thinking back to when Dumbledore had attempted to Stun her, and what had simply meant to be a blocking spell turned into a light show. The spell had worked, but not only did it block one Stunning spell, it probably would have blocked anything afterwards. The only time it worked properly, brilliantly actually, was when she wanted to transfigure something. It seemed to help her thoughts flow.

'Only, recently I cast a Stunning spell on someone, and he nearly died. He would have died, because of something I was communicating through the wand. It took someone else to actually heal him with a potion to revive him. It makes what I do dangerous, I mean, really dangerous. I could have killed someone. I nearly did. I would have...if it hadn't, and I can't let that...' She anxiously trailed to a halt. She was desperate for an answer, any answer.

Gus Whittle sighed and nodded slowly.

'Well I can explain the exacerbation effect, I don't know really, how to help you with the latter. But I'll tell you what I know, and you tell me if that makes sense. How well are you acquainted with one Insidious Potion?' He stopped at her expression, as all the colour drained from her face. 'Yeah I had a gut feeling that had something to do with this. You're a Basilica, I put two and two together. It made sense. Okay. The Insidious Potion has three very deadly and unique ingredients inside of it. These potions on their own are dangerous, but not fatal, when combined they create a different type of Imperius curse...and they kill. Easily as a matter of fact, if the user has not built up a tolerance to them. These ingredients are two pieces of skin from a Boggart in the state of which you fear it most, and a green rooster's tail feather, you can still purchase that in Zirs Apothecary in England if you're a Professor, and the buds of a teething New Zealand Mandragora.'

He paused then and Siana, who was torn between shock and surprise, had a moment to realise that he knew his stuff when it came to potions. He had reeled all that off without a recipe.

'The Boggart part is the hardest to get. Green roosters, they aren't _that_ rare, and you might actually be able to find one without having to try and purchase it. The New Zealand Mandragora, that's going to be a problem. It's already fatal, and once you've ingested the Insidious potion...well...it gets attracted to you, in a carnivorous sort of way. Finally the Boggart? I wouldn't even know how to go about doing that, because it's what you fear most, and you cannot attack it in the process.

'What you need to realise Miss Basilica is a strange phenomenon which never actually got named, because as far as I'm aware there's only two documented cases of it. It happens when something in your bloodstream counters something the wand. Siana you have a basilisk fang in your wand, and you have green rooster essence flying through your bloodstream as we speak. For a start, the effects of the basilisk fang would have to be altered...secondly...the Boggart. Well it shows what you fear most doesn't it?'

'Yes.' Siana said softly, shivering. She had never encountered a Boggart before, and never wanted to either.

'It's a strange power of a creature to be able to see you, and in a split second change into what you most fear. Bunyips can do something similar. That's a psychic trait, but it's also a...it's an amplifying trait. Here I'm going to end up going into the many magical qualities of potions ingredients and I'm not going to. But I'm going to tell you now, that is also affecting the strength of your spells. Personally though, as to the Mandragora, I don't think that has anything to do with it.'

'Okay. So this is what you think. You don't definitely know if this is what effecting me?'

'I'm telling you, that if you get these ingredients out of your blood stream, and there's _still_ a problem, then we're in trouble. Because I can't think of anything else that it could be. You know they often call a combination wand, like yours, a Fire Wand. Because more often then not, there's conflict going on when you cast the spell. Do me a favour and wave it?' he said, pointing at the corner where he had cast the bird.

Siana picked it up, closed her eyes in dread, and waved it vaguely. Out of the end of her wand shot something warm and soothing. The feeling seemed to track up her arm. She opened her eyes when Gus barked with laughter. In the corner sparks, violet and white, were clinging to the walls, ceiling and floor. They shimmered and gleamed and sparkled cheerfully, slowly fading.

'It's your wand. There's been no mistake with it.'

'All this talk is good. Yet I still don't know what to do with this situation. How do I get the ingredients out of my blood stream? I don't know how to do that.'

'Here's where my theory comes in. Only it's not mathematical theory, it's just a thought.'

'So you don't even have an answer?' Siana squeaked indignantly and Gus Whittle cleared his throat sternly, his leathery, wrinkly face suddenly appearing very stern.

'Of course I don't! The last two documented cases of this happening ended badly. Both were Aurors with the Insidious potions in their system. However I've examined the two cases and I'm going to be able to help you more than any other okay? So listen. You need to acquire the potion, or you need to make it. I'm going to give you the recipe. When you administer the Insidious potion to yourself, _in the right amount, _and add two extra ingredients which I'll write down on the recipe, you will burn out the offending ingredients. It's painful, and dangerous, but it will work.'

'So I could just stay here and make it? You could help me,' Siana said eagerly and a cloud passed over Whittle's face.

'No. See love, I'd love to help you, but we don't even get Boggarts here. Bunyips, sure, Boggarts? No.'

'Oh.'_ Maybe I could ask Professor Snape to help me. _

'And it's not even worth asking our Apothecaries. You need proof you're a professor for those sort of ingredients. It'll work though, with the Insidious potion. It'll be dangerous, but it's one of the only things that I can think of that'll work. Then all this trouble with that wand? That'll stop. It'll turn relatively normal. Or, in theory it should anyway.'

'Great,' Siana said softly. _It was something. It's something. It's a start. I have to give myself the one thing that I hate most, and you know, throw everything to chance. But it's more than what I had. Why do I get the feeling he's not telling me everything? _Gus Whittle had meanwhile got up and started shuffling around in one of the wooden cabinets, beautifully crafted.

'Get yourself that potion though. Here's a recipe - it ain't easy, and I'll give you some of my own Insidious to tie you over while you get the ingredients and make it.'

'You brew it?' Siana asked sceptically, taking the small phial with tiny little white stamps on it.

'I brew two things, beer and potions. No love - I can see what you're going to say - and no, I can't, won't even try to make the Insidious for you. It's illegal. I only have it because I won a phial of it on Melbourne Cup Day, and I'm happy to be rid of it for a good purpose to be honest with you. Now, it'll last you one month. You one month okay?'

'Uh sure.' _That's not very long. _

'So what are you going to do now?' Gus said, apparently the conversation was over. Siana shook her head slightly to clear her thoughts. It was too much to take in, and she felt relatively rushed.

'Well I'm going to stay here a while. It's nice. _Warm. _Gary offered.'

'Gazza? Gazza Heatnoose? My Gazza? I got two working for me you know.'

'Gazza? Oh, Gary! Oh. Yeah. You know, you're nothing like Ollivander.'

'I know lass, I know. An' he's nothing like me. Strange y'know...he generally doesn't like other wand makers and entrepreneurs.'

'So he said,' Siana permitted herself a smile then. It had been strange, hearing Ollivander speak highly of someone who sold wands for a change. Though he had actually condemned the use of heartstrings of Antipodean Opaleyes. Generally everything else he had to say about Gus Whittle was high praise. She was about to continue on that train when she noticed the thoughtful look in the wand entrepreneur's eyes. He was looking at her critically, calculatingly. She shifted uncomfortably and he started, then changed the subject.

'So Hogwarts eh? Great Dumbledore still there?'

'He certainly is,' Siana said slowly, wondering what the problem was.

'Now he is the mate of the wizarding world. True blue fellow. What about Sev?'

'Sev? Oh. _Oh. Severus?' _

'Yeah. Him.'

'You call him Sev?' Siana said, pale with shock.

'Not to his face love. He's a talented Professor. Don't know why he wastes his time teaching.' Siana would have laughed if it wasn't for the fact that everything seemed to be so strange to her now. It was all offset by the fact that in her hands, rested a tiny bottle of Insidious potion. In her hands, rested something that reminded her of all the years of childhood that had been stolen away from her.

'Well he hates it.'

'As do I. Last time I had to supervise some potions graduates I was half ready to kill em. And I'm patient! Severus...nah. He was made for a laboratory.' Siana tore her eyes away from the potion bottle, feeling more and more like returning to Hogwarts within the month and asking Severus to help her out. _He'd probably be happy to flush it all out of my system. That way he's in no danger, and that way...we could start on the right foot. _

'How have you met?'

'But you call him Sev,' Siana said with an amused smile. Gus Whittle winked at her and then shrugged.

'I abbreviate, it's in my nature. I'd abbreviate my name if it wasn't Gus. And even then, when I was younger I had everyone calling me G. Only, that sort of you know, emphasised my days as a geek,' he said with a wry smile and then chuckled. 'Sev used to call me G with this really sort of smarmy attitude. He thought it was tops. He was an aggravating prick actually. But like I said, smarter than...I don't know. Smart. Very smart,' he said sagely and Siana grinned.

Later that night found her in a small Margaret River townhouse, tucked out the back, cooled by a Freezing charm. Her fingers entwined through her hair as she plaited it out of the way. She observed herself in the mirror curiously. From her violet eyes, which were not dark, but instead very light and healthy. Her skin, which was bright red and freckled, instead of bright white and unmarred. Her shoulders hurt from sunburn as she moved her arms, and the salve that Gary had given her, had not yet kicked in.

She had not taken the potion either. It lay, unassuming, next to a small bottle of water. Siana tried to avoid looking at it, but it had been the object that had attracted most of concerned attention since Gary had come to pick her up.

Siana looked at it one more time and then sighed, her voice the only thing to punctuate a deep, country silence. Even the birds were quiet, persuaded out of singing by the heat. She slid into bed feeling emotions tumble around inside of her, thoughts and questions and answers.

_Once I told Macnair, that I'd rather die than see Voldemort. Then it all changed. How quickly my life became something completely unrecognisable. Everyone is dead...except for Frederick. I don't understand it really. Dad, Mum, Camille, Mercury, Nathan, Athena. And there's so much I don't know. _

She curled up into a tight fetal position. She had not been able to sleep properly since that day she had flown away from Hogwarts. In fact, her sleep was so disrupted that her head hurt with it, and she was seriously considering sleeping draughts. She hated the idea of taking potions, there was that one time Snape had snapped at her to drink one up, and it felt like it was fizzling her insides.

All potions had some adverse reaction. Just as all spells did.

She hadn't cried, not since Dumbledore had cut her grief short due to complications and circumstances. The grief seemed to have burrowed down deep inside of her, and the sadness that swamped her now was more depression, than raw pain. Her emotions were locked inside of her, all of them, even her fear it seemed. She knew Frederick would take her to Voldemort if he found her, yet she didn't care. Her lackadaisical attitude was both destructive and protective. She could not handle the strength of her emotions without support, in a strange country, yet it was clouding her judgement.

And a Basilica's judgement was clouded enough.

She murmured to herself sleepily, her thoughts dampened, her body heavy with sleep, and still sticky with sweat despite her shower. The Freezing charm didn't remove the humidity.

Siana fell asleep to whisperings in her heart. A small Basilican saying running through her mind, ominous and clear:

_'A Basilican marches to fates unknown,  
Though the path be treacherous and long,  
A Basilican follows the path of its stars,  
And the stars honour a Basilica strong.  
A Basilican never lets a good fight pass,  
For it's in that conflict that we belong.' _

She woke with a start. Grunting softly as her eyes opened, she noticed that it was still night. Humid. The stars were twinkling so bright here, where there was no light pollution to impede their rays. They blazed like a sheet across the sky.

Unsettled and restless she got up, stretched, and walked out of her room. Her intention was to go out and enjoy the stars. When she saw the outline of a chubby shape outside she grimaced. Gary obviously had the same idea.

She walked up to him, making her footsteps audible. She didn't want to startle him, as it would have been easy to do in the silence.

'It's a nice night out Siana, come join me. There's a beer here if you want it too,' he called quietly from the patio, there was a silhouette of a rifle and a few beers next to his chair. She smiled softly, her eyes blinking in surprise at that generous friendship. Barefoot and clad only in a long nightshirt she moved outside. He looked at her, perused her body and said nothing. It was not a lewd gaze, just an assessing one. He handed her a beer with a nod and then went back to staring out into the vast expanse of bush that filled the mind. Siana put the beer on the porch, she didn't feel like cold fizz just yet.

He lived on a large property of protected wildlife and nature reserve.

Siana settled herself into a chair, looking above her to see networks of spider webs and black spiders clustered near the muggle electric light. She traced the messy threads and strands of web till she became confused with it and shook her head slowly. 'They just sort of throw it all together and hope that the sheer tangle of it will catch something don't they?' she said softly and Gary chuckled.

'Their venom well makes up for their architecture.'

She looked straight ahead now, trying to make out shapes in the vast expanse of bush. Without thinking her eyes changed in her head, altered ever so slightly to become that of a protectus. They glowed yellow, and light blazed behind her brain.

_There. An owl in that tree, some things I wouldn't know the name of, a larger shape...perhaps a rabbit? No! A fox! Oh he's a game little thing. _

She changed her eyes back again as she saw it emerge almost invisible from a clump of low, thorny bushes. It looked around curiously, and she suspected it was probably looking for food. She grinned genially at it.

'We have a visitor,' she said, her heart feeling lighter than it had for some time. The thoughts of the Insidious potion and asking Severus Snape to make it for her flew from her mind.

'What is it? I hope it's not a cat.' Gary's hand went to his rifle, and a dark look crossed over his face. Siana shook her head.

'No, it's only a fox,' she said and was suddenly surprised when Gary grunted quietly and lifted his rifle. He had seen the creature, and sighted it.

'No! No! Don't kill it!' Siana cried, stupidly leaping in front of the rifle, startling the fox. However she wasn't fast enough and the gun blared in the night sky - an explosion so out of place in the silence. The fox had dropped to the ground, instantly dead.

'Oh.' She whimpered, rushing to its side, her hands moving out towards it, trembling. The thick blood, oozing from the wound, stained the already black ground, blacker under the shelter of the night sky.

'They're feral here love. _Feral. _They kill all our wildlife. You're lucky it was a gun that killed it, instead of 1080,' he said softly, his voice harsh. Siana couldn't look at him, she couldn't bring herself to. She was so vulnerable around animals, she loved them so completely, that to look in the eyes of a killer made her quake on the inside. Gary sighed from his chair, a clattering sound indicating that the violent weapon had been discarded.

'What's 1080?' she asked, trying to distract herself and Gary smacked his lips thoughtfully, then yawned, before replying.

'It's fox bait, and it's a fair awful way to die. It's like setting traps for them, and having them die of starvation. No there's no honour in that. I know I seem cruel Siana, and maybe I am. But I'd rather see a fox die, then endangered native animals. Foxes were never meant to be here. Nor rabbits, or cats, or mice.'

What he was saying made sense. She couldn't hate him for his action, yet staring down at the dead creature - so graceful even when it lay with the shadow - she felt misery clutch at her heart. Guilt blossomed, thick and black in her chest, like it blossomed from the foxes body. She was the one who had pointed the fox out in the shadows, she had, inadvertently caused its death. She did not feel any better for knowing that she had probably saved other animals.

'It's a stupid thing to leap in front of a gun like that,' he added and Siana flinched.

'Why don't you just put it to sleep with your wand?'

'Because it's a waste of good magic, I like to hunt, and I'm a muggle at heart. I've been raised in the country, where feral animals kill everything that belongs here. I'm sorry love, I can see your offended, but I'm not going to apologise. Maybe you should go back to bed Siana...' he said, not harshly but in understanding. His eyes were dark and kind in the darkness and she looked up from the fox and swallowed.

'What are you going to do with, with this?' she said pointing at the still body. Gary shrugged.

'Ravens'll clean it up. That or the ants can have it. I'll throw it into the bush tomorrow. It won't go to waste, that's for sure.'

Siana nodded numbly and stood, walking stiffly past him. She paused in the doorway and took a deep breath.

'If you want to know Gary, I don't blame you.' _Because I'm too busy hating myself. _

There was a long pause, the sound of Gary taking a deep drink of his beer. 'I know,' he said finally and Siana closed her eyes, pain lancing through her. _Bed, Siana. _

_Now. _


	3. Chapter 3

**Spoilers:** PS/SS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA.. Written between Goblet of Fire and Order of Phoenix.   
**Genre:** Action, Angst  
**Era:** Multiple Eras  
**Main Character(s):** None  
**Ship(s):** None  
**Summary:** Siana Basilica has found the first of many answers, and Severus Snape has returned from his encounter with Voldemort. When Siana finds herself back at Hogwarts to continue looking for answers about her strange abilities, and her even stranger wand, she encounters a Snape entirely different to the one she knew before. The Death Eaters and Voldemort are hunting her, and she herself is experiencing unusual symptoms to the one thing that could possibly help her.  
**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**NOTES: **My stuff has never been particularly fluffy. If you don't like animal torture, or any sort of torture, or references to sexual assault etc. etc. then back off.

**A Fox Instead **

'Why one would assume that you actually enjoyed detention, Potter. Now put your ingredients down and come here before a detention and the twenty points you've just lost for your house due to your blatant disobedience becomes detention for a week and forty points!' Snape snapped fiercely, his eyes flashing like a hawk only starting to rip apart his predator. Loathing coursed through his body as Harry Potter gathered his things and walked slowly and insolently up to Snape's desk. The Gryffindors were trying not to watch, the Slytherins were openly enjoying the almost weekly show.

Snape's eyes glittered as he watched Harry settled down at the empty desk with malicious pleasure rushing through him. It was strange, that his eyes glittered, black holes weren't supposed to reflect the light.

'Well, you are an insolent layabout aren't you?' he said quietly, his voice sparking even through the whisper. He monitored Harry closely, not only for changes in his expression, but also changes in his breathing. When Harry's chest began to rise and fall more rapidly, he knew that with enough badgering the boy would explode, and he'd have an excuse to vent the rages that simmered inside his well of hatred.

'It's strange the way you're the only teacher to say that, Professor Snape,' Harry said very softly back. Snape's lip curled to bare yellowed teeth, his eyes darkened and the flash of light left them. Now they were truly the black tunnels that frightened and forbade. _How dare you show such lack of respect! _

'Oh I'm probably just the only teacher who dares to say it in front of famous Potter's face.'

'And the only teacher who was a Death Eater,' Harry muttered, so quietly that Snape barely caught what he had said. His eyes flew open with shock and a hiss escaped his mouth. He could hardly believe that Harry would so boldly bring it up in front of a class which, though they couldn't have heard him, were still trying to listen in on every word. Harry's cheek had been growing with every lesson, he was slow to react to Snape's threats, and his penchant for retorting was growing.

'Congratulations. You've just spectacularly managed to get a round forty off the Gryffindor hourglass, and you can take a second detention.' _And I will take much pleasure in thinking of something vile for you to do._ Harry's eyes flashed but he said nothing then - because he seemed to sense when Snape was just about to lose his temper completely.

Snape was just about to push Harry further when a fist of nails seemed to close around his heart. His face blanched paler than ivory, and his hands destroyed a raven feather quill that he had been holding his hand. And then, as soon as the pain had come, it left again. _And not a moment too soon. Yet, it is not as bad as usual. _

He would never admit it, but his wounds were aggravating him. They had poisoned him with a substance he didn't recognise the last time he had gone - and though it wasn't fatal, it caused excruciating cramps which flashed through the body and disappeared at seemingly random moments. He also still had healing cuts and lacerations which potions would not remove instantly. He was also loathe to use a healing salve, in case something in it reacted negatively to the poison that was still leeching from his veins.

Harry Potter was quiet, his breathing had slowed down, he was obviously thinking of something else. Snape, though tempted to nudge Harry over into the abyss of anger, was preoccupied on his pain. He liked watching Harry when he was frightened, or defensively angry...he liked to see foolishly brave people with their guard down. It was a power trip and he did not deign to deny it. He was what he was, and his sneaking malevolence was not merely a fa�ade to convince the students of his malicious side. His sneaking malevolence was merely a signature of the fact that back in the days when the Sorting Hat had been placed on his head, it had only briefly mentioned Ravenclaw, before screaming Slytherin.

One did not become Head of House, on the whim of a mere fa�ade. True, he was not the sadist of his days along the side of Voldemort, but nor was he an avenging angel.

His sadistic streak hadn't actually started out as such, it had started out as a preoccupation with human emotions, and what made a human tick. Voldemort had seen Snape's propensity towards this, and trained it specifically onto pain. Severus remembered little of this training and suspected that he had been under the Imperius curse for much of it, after all, what he had previously thought were happy memories, were more like the blissful interludes of that particular Unforgivable Curse.

The first time he had murdered, he had felt like he was not in his body, and he was watching a masked stranger destroy an innocent witch. The fact that he had been watching himself as a masked stranger meant that he did not connect the fact that it had been _he_ who had killed someone, for a month. The day he did, he had been ill for a week - and the sickness had been so delayed that Voldemort had not suspected that the hauntings of guilt and shame had been the reason for Snape's ill health.

The second time Snape had killed someone, he had remained so disconnected from the situation, that it was three months later before he woke up from a violently real nightmare, shuddering and shaking, throwing up so violently that he retched blood. He had tried to convince himself that it hadn't really been him behind the wand, because he was too unfocussed, but in that dream Snape had felt the pleasure of bloodlust, and the coldness of power, and the fear and excitement had nearly sent him insane.

Eventually Snape came to depend upon his departure from the physical body, it was almost like being under the Imperius curse again, blissful and unaware. He came to dread waking up months later, sick to his stomach and scared of what he was, torn between wanting to embrace his darkest self, and wanting to struggle up to some dim light once more. The accusing eyes of his victims and the frank appraisal of the other Death Eaters ripped him in two directions. The silent accusations (and some spoken or cried) hurt and pleasured him at the same time, and the praise fired his guilt for experiencing even glimmers of pleasure at his actions. Eventually he lashed out at those who attempted any personal contact, positive or negative. Hearing compliments hurt, hearing insults hurt, eventually...he came to realise that the pain could possibly stop if he dragged himself out of the situation.

If only he had pulled out when he had realised where he was headed. But no, it took one murder to shock him enough into struggling for the light he could not even see any longer. He renounced Voldemort to only two people at first, one whom did not believe him, and the other who had made him Potions Professor.

And if it hadn't been for that one murder, he would most likely still be a Death Eater - perhaps one of the madly devoted ones, intent on serving the Dark Lord in death as much as in life. He did not want that life, in retrospect he would have lost himself to madness, and madness did not make for intelligence or shrewd, coherent potion making skills. _What are you doing? Trying to convince yourself that you're grateful she died? You've done this before...tear yourself between guilt, hatred and gratitude like you can't decide which you should really be feeling. Vengeance only tastes good when it isn't marred with guilt. _A quiet voice said in his mind and Snape scowled.

Siana Basilica, young then, strange and vicious, one moment blind to her own actions, the next brutally destroying everything she could in her path. Now, she was nothing more than an uncoordinated misfit who could change herself into an extinct fox and a fruit-bat. He hated himself for letting her bewitch him, for surely that was what she had done. Seeing Voldemort had made him realise his stupidity. To think that for one moment Severus had envisaged a warmth which transcended loneliness! That for one moment Severus had felt closer to the Basilica than he had done since the death of Lydia. _To think that at all! You ridiculous fool! What were you hoping for? To erase the past? Cretin._ The voice in Snape's head was harsh today in its ministrations.

Class ended on a quiet and subdued note, and as Harry was just about to walk through the door Snape called; 'We still have two detentions to discuss, Potter.' His voice was cold. Ron mouthed something about 'waiting up' and Harry turned, walking slowly back to the desk once more, his green eyes shuttered. Snape fought not to sneer, not yet, he'd enjoy bringing anger out of the boy's closed eyes. He stood, fluidly, towering over the boy, and his eyes met Harry's which it seemed were not entirely closed, but burning fiercely.

'So. You find it fit to raise issues in the classroom which shouldn't even be raised within this school. Your pettiness could well be the downfall of Hogwarts, and I'm sure you'd like that, after all you seem to try very hard to be a discredit to our name,' he whispered angrily, his voice lowered because he suspected that Ron would be listening outside the door. 'You would have everyone assume the worst of me, which if got to a point where it was out of hand, Dumbledore would have to throw me out based on reputation alone. He might have a predilection towards taking in the unusual teachers, but he cannot allow them to stay when the parents start complaining.'

He paused then, Harry was looking mildly surprised, but not entirely angry.

'If I am removed from this school Potter, don't think for one second that I wouldn't go back to one particular Dark Lord, and I will personally make your life more of a living hell than it is right now. Don't give me that look Potter, you think I make your life hell now? You haven't even begun to imagine what I am capable of. Loyalty to Dumbledore keeps me here, but see me removed, and you can hold yourself responsible for everything that happens thereafter. I'm sure you'd like that, it seems to be your purpose when you so _foolishly_ raise that sort of issue, in my class, in front of others!' He ended on a shout, his voice cutting through the harsh room. _Ron won't know what I'm talking about, but Potter seems to, oh yes. Didn't realise did you? _

'I won't bring it up again,' Harry said abruptly and Snape then allowed himself a smirk. 'I think an age old punishment is worthy of you Potter, perhaps you'd like to scrub the bedpans in the hospital wing without magic? Or I could even send you around the entire school, and you can clean all the lavatories that a Gryffindor has access too. I'm sure Argus will be quite willing to _help_ you out, he's very good at shouting out orders in his dotage. Perhaps both at the same time? That would account for one detention, perhaps you should do that on a Friday night Potter, because you'll be very tired the next day, and we couldn't have you falling asleep during classes.' The gleam that had returned to his eyes was wickedly inspired at Harry's expression.

He was just about to launch into a description of Harry's second detention when a forlorn, reedy whimper came from Snape's desk. Both Harry and Snape's eyes widened abruptly. His face then shadowed and he turned slightly, his robe rippling with the silent movement. He turned back to Harry with a slightly disappointed look on his face. _I'm missing out on a perfect opportunity to cut down little Potter to size, and sharpen my claws. Dumbledore might be convinced that I'm a redeemed person, but I still need my fun. Or at the very least, I still need to exercise the brutal instincts which keep me alive whilst sitting in the palm of Voldemort._

'Go,' was all Snape said, and Harry left, looking behind his shoulder curiously. Snape glared at Harry who quickly got the message, and closed the door behind him quietly. The Potions Master immediately turned and he rushed over to the desk, his face lined with intrigue, and perhaps a glimmer of concern. He opened his desk drawer, and a frightened fox immediately became an ecstatic fox, licking blindly at any part of Severus that it could.

'Svelte, we are not a common dog,' Snape hissed softly as he picked the creature up by the scruff of its neck, supporting her stomach. She had put on a little weight, though it was still scrawny, a runt of the litter. Her fur had developed a handsome terra-cotta sheen, losing it's lighter, browner fluff. Svelte was breathing quickly, eyes darting around the room. Eventually her eyes locked on the face of Severus once more and he felt himself almost burnt by the intensity of the adoration that he saw there.

'Hmph. You only appreciate me because I feed you, and you're not due to be fed for at least...ten minutes. So why would you be playing an appreciation card? What's wrong? Just felt like interrupting?' The fox kept looking at him in rapt admiration and Snape, a little flustered, placed Svelte down on the table, noting how tiny she was yet again. He held out his hand against her, avoiding her tongue, and noticed that he dwarfed her. His hand was massive compared to her small frame. _You are tiny. Tiny. I'm surprised you have survived for so long. _

Tentatively, hardly aware of what he was doing, his hand moved closer to the animal, and he started to scratch it on the back of the neck. Long, slow and drugging strokes. He remembered doing it to his first and last familiar, Coal. Svelte's eyes half closed and she made a soft groaning noise of appreciation, arching her neck back in a sinuous curve.

_Yes, there's something very feline about a fox. _

He let his skilled fingers trail underneath her ear, wondering if it would work on a fox, as it always did on his cat from so long ago. Svelte pressed her head into his hand so firmly that she almost unsettled herself and Severus nodded slowly. His hands could inflict pleasure or pain. Lydia used to beg for one of his massages, back when she had spent every day traipsing over the country side destroying the already badly proportioned muscles in her body. Perhaps that was why he was so good at touch in the first place. If it hadn't been for Lydia needing some form of relief from the pain he would never have learnt massage, or for that matter, how to make some of the most effective pain relief potions available now on the market.

'Shhh little thing, you'll need to settle again soon, shhh...' he purred, his voice deep and seductive. Svelte eased herself down into a lying position, her tail flicking back and forth erratically as he continued to scratch her. Her glowing eyes were closed, and her mouth was open in an earnest smile. Snape slowed his strokes and then drew his hand away...watching. Svelte's eyes opened a little, but she stayed still, plainly about to fall asleep. A yawn punctuated that fact.

Snape realised suddenly, when he heard the quiet snick of the door, that someone had been listening in. He got up abruptly, ignoring the bereft whine of Svelte, and stalked over to the door. He opened it silently and looked down the corridor, which Harry and Ron still occupied. Snape quietly cursed himself, he had been too preoccupied with Svelte's welfare that he hadn't even felt the presence of people watching. He listened in on the conversation that Ron and Harry seemed to be having.

'It's hard to believe that a foul monster like Snape could even look after an animal. Let alone show it affection,' Ron said, his face openly showing disgust and disbelief. Harry said nothing, it seemed he was still seething over the points that had been lost for Gryffindor, forty was a large blow. They had only been ahead for the house cup by ten points, and now they were thirty points behind. Severus watched them walk away, a cruel glint in his eye, and a strange sensation in his graceful body.

'Though...he didn't seem to say much to you at his desk Harry. I suppose that's _something,_' Ron added, his voice drifting down the corridor and Snape grunted in the back of his throat.

'If that's something, then I'd hate to see him next time. He's just keeps getting worse and worse. It's a wonder Dumbledore doesn't...' Harry's voice now disappeared into the cold corridors of Hogwarts and Snape found his eyes narrowing into the perfect scowl. His lips thinned and his face became strung with tension. _It's a wonder Dumbledore doesn't what? Intervene? Fire me? He wouldn't dare boy, the position I play is too important for that. _

He whirled around, stalking back to the desk, where the wobbly and still sleepy Svelte was now sitting on her haunches, watching him. Her eyes glittered curiously, and adoration was imprinted upon her face. Snape glared at her. She had to be kept in his desk, because she needed feeding at hourly intervals and he had no convenient excuse to go to his private quarters so regularly. The distaste of how much she was affecting his personal life suddenly came upon him, a bitter taste in the back of his throat.

His eyes burned blackly at her, hatred springing up once more, as it inevitably did at irrational times. It coiled through him like tightly taught barbed wire. He glared at Svelte, waiting for that impeccable moment when...

_Snap!_

He stalked over to her, a predator about to pounce, picked her up by the scruff of the neck and all but threw her back into the drawer.

An hour later the crying became too much and Snape opened his drawer with a clatter, yanked the fox out - who was ecstatic though fretful despite her owner's foul temper - and deposited her on the table unceremoniously. Her legs splayed out at wonky angles, and it took a moment for her to gather herself back together. He glared at it once more and debated whether he should just break its neck now, if he could actually be bothered marching it to Hagrid's hut.

Somewhere a voice inside of him was murmuring something to do with; 'needs to be fed', but that little voice, which also said things like; 'that's not very fair', was being squashed by the remnants of snapped barbed wire.

He was just about to pick it up and be damned with Hagrid when there was a knock at his door. He looked at it, narrowed his eyes and called: 'Who is it?'

'Malfoy,' Draco said smoothly, crisply, and there was also disgust in the tone, as though he couldn't believe he had to knock in the first place. _Exactly like his father._ Snape thought and the bitter taste that had stained his throat before now came back with the definite flavour of bile. _Lucius...let's not dwell upon that, now. Both of them are dangerously attractive, mentally persuasive and know how to seduce one with thoughts of power._

'You have an animal?' Draco drawled as he entered the room, looking at the creature on the table. There was surprise in the tone of his voice. 'I didn't realise we needed live animals for our potions Sir.' A sadistic gleam entered his eyes. 'Though it's certainly a good idea.'

Snape smiled wickedly, darkly, whilst inside parts of him curled away in revulsion. _You're too young to be so well rounded when it comes to thoughts of torture Draco. Your father evidently does not spare you the details of his twisted mind._ He looked down at the fox, which was disgusting him with her desperate and pathetic attempts to get affection.

'She's a familiar,' he spat out as he eyed the creature with malice. Draco took in Snape's expression, and the pathetic fox, and he smirked.

'She's a fox. I thought it was only owls, cats, and Trevor that were allowed in this school,' he said and Snape pushed the fox away from him.

'That's a student restriction. It _was_ growing on me. Now I find that she's too needy. She'll need training,' he said as he watched the fox look at him uncertainly, and then start walking towards him again on unsteady legs. She was very hungry, and had now not been fed now for a long time considering her not quite stable condition. Snape was effectively redirecting his guilt into his infamous well of hatred, and Svelte was experiencing the brunt of it.

'You know what Draco? How would you like to _play_ with her for a little while,' he spat softly and Draco's eyes lit up. His hands twitched at his sides, as he made to involuntarily reach for her. Snape however held up his hand.

'I'll come collect her, take her up to your dormitory. You have lunch, it will give you and your friends something to do. Just don't...' He paused. 'Don't play too violently now. There are some things even I can't justify to a Headmaster,' he said and watched as Draco reached towards the fox eagerly, a cruelty about the tension in his hands. He clutched at Svelte, which licked the boys hands blindly. Draco made a face of revulsion and his hands clenched, hard. The fox whimpered.

'Excellent. I'll leave her in the dormitory after lunch,' he said, and walked away.

Lunch was passing without mishap. Severus dined at the Great Hall, where he told Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall of the points that had been taken off Gryffindor, and the two detentions that Harry had earnt himself. He then proceeded to tell Albus Dumbledore in an undertone, the reason for these two detentions. Dumbledore looked grim.

'That will not do. Two detentions is severe, Severus, as you are well aware, but you are correct in your assumptions. I do not think Harry realised what a fine line we walk.'

'Well if he didn't understand before, he certainly should grasp it now. He's not a complete idiot,' Snape said darkly, pushing his plate away. He wasn't hungry this particular lunchtime, his eyes kept drifting over to the Slytherin table, where Draco, Goyle and Crabbe were absent. Dumbledore had clearly been following Snape's gaze because he then inquired:

'Where are Draco and his two friends?'

'Draco received a package from his father and wanted to share the contents privately. He does it a fair bit. I checked the package...there is nothing illegal in there,' he added quietly. His stomach turned slightly..._was I foolish to leave Svelte in their hands? I don't want her dead, just disciplined a little, something I do not have the time to do. Maybe I should leave now and check on her. No. Lunch is almost over, and I'll go up when the dormitory is deserted. _

'How is Svelte faring?' Dumbledore then asked and Snape's teeth grit involuntarily, his discomfort grew.

'She's sleeping, getting very vocal actually,' he said shortly and Dumbledore nodded, a small smile on his face.

'Well she's a very young animal. She needs almost constant attention. Are you sure you wouldn't prefer her to keep company with Hagrid?'

Snape thought about that and found that he didn't. Despite that fact that Svelte was irking him, he suddenly didn't want her out of his care, his mind was changing quickly, lightning bolts across two different directions.

'Quite sure.'

'Perhaps you'd like to go and check on her?' Dumbledore said very softly, a hint of steel in his voice. Snape's eyes widened then, involuntarily. He expected to be baited by Voldemort, but not by Dumbledore, and he certainly failed to perceive how Dumbledore could possibly be insinuating what he seemed to be insinuating. Snape swallowed quickly and hazarded a look at the Headmaster.

The piercing blue was extraordinarily disconcerting.

'After all, lunch will finish in a few minutes or so anyway, and you don't seem to be hungry. It's usually something quite serious that puts you off your lunch...you seem worried,' Dumbledore added. Though his voice was light and cheerful, there was something in his voice which was dangerously insistent. Snape's heart was speeding up, the guilt that had been flaming inside of him guttered, then flared as a gust of fear and self hatred blew over it. Goosebumps ran along his arm underneath his robes and for a second, Snape wondered if he should just get up now, retreat as gracefully as possible. Dumbledore had a silent power, silent, but frightening.

'I recommend you go now Severus,' Dumbledore said, arching a bushy eyebrow.

Snape stood swiftly and pushed in his chair, then swept out of the Great Hall without a second thought to the opinions of the other teachers or students. _He knows, he knows and he hasn't fired me. He hasn't fired me._ Shock was racing through him as he avoided two ghosts floating towards him - lost in their own world - and continued to navigate down to the dungeons.

As he moved down to the dungeons, lunch ended, and a few minutes later he heard the unmistakable laugh of Draco Malfoy, and then the delayed stupid laughter of Crabbe and Goyle. As Draco rounded the corner, Snape noticed that his pale cheeks were flushed, his blue eyes were sparkling, and there were red flecks on his hands. The Potions Master inwardly cringed, ignoring anything that vaguely resembled an emotion other than anger, such as fear, which was threatening to rise within him. Draco had noticed the Professor and grinned.

'Professor, you're down from lunch early. I take it you've come to do some cleaning up.' He smirked and Snape remained impassive. _Give nothing away, like you just did to the Headmaster. Fool._

'Draco, I recommend you thoroughly wash your hands before your next class,' Severus said, his tone clipped and short. Draco looked at his hands and his grin widened sickeningly. He shrugged and for a moment Severus wouldn't have been surprised if Draco had raised his hands up to his lips and licked the blood off, but perhaps that was his own sick and twisted mind, because Draco just started rubbing it off with the other hand.

'Thanks for the er, _advice_, Professor,' he said, his eyes gleaming as he caught the Professor's black gaze. 'Well, I really must get to class, can't have McGonagall taking points off me now, can we?' He snickered, and walked past Snape without a second glance.

Snape started to walk again. Soon he had entered the Slytherin house, mysterious and eerie, and he was making his way up to the boys dormitory. He was just walking down some more stairs when he felt a twinge start at his lower back.

He had a few seconds to register horror, when the pain flared suddenly, violently, without warning. He choked, was choking on his own saliva, and reeling backwards. His hands scraped at the walls heavily, hard enough to scrape skin off, his eyes rolled backwards and his heart seemed to stop. The pain was strong enough to cause every muscle in his body to completely wrench, and then flow into a brutal but brief seizure during which Snape could not even marshal the thought to wish for death.

When he'd recovered, not more than ten seconds later, he was sagging against the wall, his hands aching as though to remind him of the pain he had just experienced. His heart was thumping madly in his chest, and his eyes were dull with disorientation. For a moment he thought he was in an oubliette or perhaps one of Voldemort's special rooms, but after a few moments he was able to focus on one of the torches flickering in its bracket.

_Hogwarts. Nothing but a twinge of potion. Nothing at all. _

He took several deep breaths, wondering if he'd just damn all his potion training and try and counter the ingredients of the potion that still coursed through his body, with a healing potion. Yet he knew in the back of his mind that he wasn't a moron, and that it was simply too dangerous. Most of the potions that Voldemort administered, that caused pain, were designed to either worsen or become fatal when a healing antidote was given. It was sadistic, and Snape took no pleasure in the fact that he had pioneered those potions. However Snape did not know the identity of this particular one, whatever it was, the pain was disturbing.

_Svelte. _

He shuddered and his thoughts quickly returned back to what he was doing. He straightened and walked the rest of the way to where the sixth year boys resided. He walked in without a second thought. His steps slid to a halt as he took in the scene before him.

A knife and a pen lay next to a huddled ball of fur that was neither pale brown, or terracotta, but rather a cracked brow colour, tinted with globs and rivulets of bright red, the same colour also staining the quilt, knife and quill. Severus felt his hand start to tremble violently as in the place of the sick pleasure he had hoped not to feel (but thought he might), came a suffocating shame...a shame that grew with every inhale which bought the scent of dried blood to his hooked nose.

'Svelte?' Snape said, his voice weak, thought not tremulous like the rest of his body. He was surprised to see the ears of the feminine creature turn towards him slowly. She whimpered, one of her back legs twitched as she turned her head in a movement that suggested a large amount of pain. There were deep scores running horizontally along one side her ribcage, which still leaked fresh blood. That was the only damage he could make out amongst the mess.

He gulped briefly before adeptly waving his wand and eliminating the blood around the fox. Then he walked to Svelte slowly, who automatically starting crying forlornly; clearly frightened of him, yet unable to move away fast enough. The sight spurned Snape's guilt into white hot hateful flames that coursed through his torso, corrosive and painful, a brief reminder of the spasms that had recently been assailing him.

His hands did not recoil as he scooped up the now terrified creature, so frightened her breathing was dangerously fast, so tortured that her muscles rippled involuntarily along her frame. She did not have the strength left to fight and Severus knew that she was dying, she _would_ die if she didn't receive immediate care.

'Shhh...' he found himself saying. 'I'm not going to hurt you.' He hated himself for saying those words, because he had been the cause of the situation that she was currently in. However the fox had calmed as he had spoke, and her whimpering became less urgent. _That or she's just slipping further into shock, Severus, deeper into that deathly abyss. _Inwardly he winced and instead occupied his mind with examining her as he walked quickly to his own private chambers.

There were three deep cuts on either side, which had been the cause of most of the blood. There were also lacerations on her shoulder blades, head and neck, and what looked to be a stab wound on the back of her right flank. Instinctively his hands started searching for pressure points - usually located near pulse points - and deftly started pushing them.

Encouraged by the slowing of her heart and the less frequent urgings of her whimperings he continued, kicking open his door after absently muttering a password. He kicked the door shut again, muttered another password which activated a silencing charm, and headed over to a black, wrought iron and wooden cabinet. From it, he took a green towel.

He placed the towel onto the bed, and her onto it. Then he went to another cabinet and fetched salve, two potions, and a flask of water. He didn't even have to look at where his hands were going, so familiar was he with what he needed, and where it was kept. _Keep your surroundings as organised as you would like your mind to be. Clutter makes for untidy thoughts, and untidy thoughts lead to falling over one's own mistakes. _

He did several things at once then. With a wave of his wand he cleared the dried blood off her fur, it was a difficult charm which required energy - but Snape did not dare waste time cleaning encrusted blood when he could be looking at and treating wounds. While saying the charm he managed to unstopper both of the bottles, and open the salve, then, as he sat down beside the cowering, frightened and no longer ecstatic little fox, he found himself breaking into a verbal stream of thought - something he never did, because he found speaking when it wasn't necessary, pointless - whilst a part of him prayed that she wasn't broken.

'Svelte, Svelte come back to me little fox.' He purred as he stroked salve onto the worst of her wounds, noting the way they immediately stopped bleeding with some satisfaction. The fox was snuffling a little, evidently holding in the pain, trying to seem stronger and more pain-resistant than she was. _Draco would have pushed you, he doesn't like resistance little fox. Then again, you probably gave him what he wanted. _'Svelte, it was necessary, you need to learn what it is like to be in the Slytherin house...and you can be comforted in the fact that it need never happen a...'

He trailed off. Draco needed only to ask for the fox, and Snape would be required to give it to him. _He'll suspect something if I refuse...unless...He doesn't need to think she's alive, I doubt he'd be surprised if she'd died, or if he thought she'd died. I could hide her in my quarters easily enough, feeding would be a difficulty, but at least...oh dear. _

Svelte was starting to whimper again, clearly frightened by the shadow of Snape's hand. He grimaced and pain lanced through him, pain that was completely unconnected to the potion that he had been given. Pain that was something akin to sympathy, hatred, the feeling of his heart twisting in his chest. Pain that he couldn't seem to ignore, sitting on his bed, trying to heal Svelte's wounds as best as he was able. Pain that he didn't dare ignore, not after Dumbledore's warning, not after his own sick feelings of fear.

'Shhh...shhh...Svelte. Back to me. Listen to the sound of my voice, there we go. I'm not going to hurt you. I don't suppose you have any cause to believe me, because I have introduced you to the fine workings of betrayal now. I know no other way, you see, betrayal is my partner as much as loneliness, as much as the darkness of the dungeons and the scents of the simmering concoctions I create. It would have been better if you had never hidden in my sanctuary, for then I would not have found you, and introduced you to my pathetic world.'

_Where were these words coming from?_ He blinked and shook his head slightly. _Well what of them?_ Challenged a little voice in his head. _It's true isn't it? You hate yourself, you are pathetic, lonely, obsessed, deranged. You're a monster Severus, with a world of troubles at your hands and behind them. Look at what you've become, a monster so twisted that you would thrill at the torture of a na�ve, baby fox._

_What would Lydia say?_

Snape blinked in shock. _What, indeed, would she say? Would she even speak? She would just stare, accusingly, heart broken. She could never comprehend cruelty, especially when practised on innocent animals. She would crumple, heartbroken, and I...I could never hope to reconcile with her. She would hate me. Hate me. _

His mind blanked and a deep pulling feeling started in his gut and moved out and up his body, settling in his heart, his hands, his shoulders. He was shaking, violently shaking, his breathing was shuddering in his chest.

Suddenly, before he knew what was happening, words were spilling out of his mouth, seeming to come not from that normal, sneering voice, but some other place. The words poured over each other, shaking, uncertain, frightened and frightening because of their unlikeliness and their intensity.

'Svelte...I'm sorry...so unbelievably, it will _never_ happen again. Svelte, listen to me. I'm sorry. I'm...please, please forgive me.'

Somehow Svelte seemed to sense her owner's distress, and slowly, stiffly, her head turned. She regarded him with glowing eyes and as Severus watched breathlessly, she pushed her muzzle into his palm and rested her head there, lazily swiping her tongue across the soft and now clammy skin. A few moments later she sank into an exhausted sleep, and Severus sank into an exhausted stupor, bent on taking as long as it took, to heal the wounds that had been left by the previous hours of the day.


	4. Chapter 4

**Spoilers:** PS/SS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA.. Written between Goblet of Fire and Order of Phoenix.   
**Genre:** Action, Angst  
**Era:** Multiple Eras  
**Main Character(s):** None  
**Ship(s):** None  
**Summary:** Siana Basilica has found the first of many answers, and Severus Snape has returned from his encounter with Voldemort. When Siana finds herself back at Hogwarts to continue looking for answers about her strange abilities, and her even stranger wand, she encounters a Snape entirely different to the one she knew before. The Death Eaters and Voldemort are hunting her, and she herself is experiencing unusual symptoms to the one thing that could possibly help her.  
**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Chapter 4: The Third Transformation**

'Oh for God's, by bloody, Artemis you shouldn't..._dammit! _' Siana shrieked furiously as she threw her wand viciously against the wall and then kicked one of the cabinets that was nearby. The cabinet put up a brief fight by staying stationary, and remaining hard, and Siana whirled away, hopping on one foot, as her big toe flared with pain.

'Damn, damn, damn, damn...I don't care if cursing is wrong, I'm fucking cursing now. Damnit!' she shouted as she smashed her fist against the table and then collapsed into a chair, breathing heavily and seething with frustration that seemed to eat away at her insides. Her wand was still rolling across the flat, tiled floor, before resting in a grouted groove. Her fist had the decency to throb, as she wondered if throwing it against something sharp would make her brain work.

'How can I be so stupid?' she asked herself out loud. 'Oh I know...I'm Siana, comes part and parcel with the _bloody_ ...' her fist smashed against the table again, '..._territory. _' She snarled at the pieces of parchment on the table (and some of them now rolling off), she snarled at her diagrams, at her theory, at the intrusive recipe of the Insidious potion, and her new theory book...to work out how best to acquire the ingredients.

She jumped when she heard Gary clear his throat and walk in, holding a bottle of what could be nothing else but beer - it seemed he didn't stock any other beverage. He looked around the large room with some amusement, taking in her still clenched fist, the wand on the floor and the parchments that were still rolling onto the tiles. He cracked a grin as he handed her a bottle and then sat down beside her, rolling his eyes at the mess.

'Third time today I thought someone was killing you...figured instead of rushing in with the gun, I'd just come in with a beer.' He mocked and Siana narrowed her eyes at him, telling herself not to make an incredibly harsh comment, or slap him...or...whatever. She was never entirely coherent when she was working on making her theory, practical.

'Gary, shut up,' she said and drank a quarter of the carbonated liquid in one go. She was developing quite a liking for beer...perhaps because it had been forced on her so many times in the past few days that she could swear she didn't remember what water tasted like.

'I take it the theory isn't going well?'

'Oh. What made you guess that? The fact that I threw a tantrum?' Siana said, her voice acerbic. She growled at herself and then made a swiping gesture at one of the diagrams. 'I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. The theory is _sound. _It's almost exactly the same theory as when I learnt my second Animagus. And now...it's not working.' She snorted, flicked dry black hair away from her face, brittle because of the hot sun and the continuing abrasion of the weather conditions. Her eyes darkened angrily and she bit her lip. Gary was chuckling, she resisted the urge to smash her already sore fist against his laughing cheek.

'Have you tried doing the thing bit by bit?'

'What you mean, change my hand into a paw, change it back?' Siana said derisively. 'Of course I have. I might be generally moronic, but I'd like to think that I'd covered every avenue when it came to Transfiguration. I know what I'm talking about, and I know what I've covered. I can do _this,_ ' she said, and promptly turned into a Protectus without a second thought. She changed back a moment later, looking particularly unruffled - though Gary was looking impressed - and sighed. 'I can do it, it's not that difficult. I don't know why I seem to be blocked. Perhaps a human just isn't designed to have that many animals in her head, but that's stupid, because wizards such a long time ago could do it.'

She sighed again and Gary stood, still looking amused. 'I'll just leave you to it then eh?' he said and she watched him go.

'Thanks for the beer,' she called, trying to muster up an ounce of cheer, which fell flat of sounding good-natured, and instead managed to fall into the niche of sarcastic. She winced.

Her temper was foul, as it had been since she found out she had to make the Insidious potion, or at the very least acquire it. Whilst ticking over when to take the Insidious potion (she had not yet taken it), she was ticking over theory, and whilst thinking about theory she had been formulating a plan in her mind. Her plan had forced her to start working much harder on her third Animagus, which would be the main component. Once she knew she could change into a third animal, she'd take the Insidious potion, follow the instructions, and get herself back to Hogwarts where she could communicate her idea to Dumbledore, and pursue her relationship with Snape.

She looked over her two diagrams. There was the detailed sketches of a cat and a fox there...she was trying for the cat. She see the point in changing into a fox when she could already become a protectus easily enough. She grimaced and traced her hand over the picture._ You're not all that different to a fox, same long tail, perceptive eyes, strong sense of cunning, carnivorous nature. I don't understand what I'm doing wrong, every time I change I can feel myself become a protectus, when I'm holding the picture of you clearly in my mind. _

Siana retrieved her wand and pointed it at herself, squeezing her eyes shut and picturing a cat in her mind clearly. With a rush of concentration the wand seemed to shudder, and then a pale light shot out of it, into her sternum.

Her mind turned briefly exultant as she slowly changed, however about halfway through becoming a cat, her tail plumed, her claws stopped being retractable, she was changing into a protectus.

'No!' She wrenched herself out of the change abruptly, her eyes shadowed though not beaten. She raised her wand to throw it a second time when something stopped her. A glint of red, murky red. _Insidious potion. _The tiny phial was catching the light and glowing slightly. Siana grimaced, distracted, and walked over to it.

_What monster is in you that runs through me now? Boggart, Mandragora...the workings of Uncle Frederick's mind. I forget that father pioneered you, for in reality it was Frederick who was the mastermind behind it all. It was he who you woke up to, muttering strange words and telling you strange ideas. Every time your mind cleared he would rapidly place you back into a sense of bliss...how many times would your head clear and you'd be scrubbing the floors on hands and knees? You were his servant, body and mind. _

Siana sighed explosively, even looking at the substance bought back horrible memories of her mind being made that of someone else. The times between hypnosis and experiments were spent in a stupor of terror, after all, her father had been honestly violent and did not hesitate to cover her body with bruises. Uncle Frederick had been entirely different, the nature of his attacks were more personal, and more intrusive. All the more frightening for that reason.

The idea that she would be giving herself the potion of which most of her nightmares were made, terrified her. Yet at the same time, she was desperate to erase the effects of the potion from her body. The instructions Gus had given her on the recipe were exact, but at the same time, any side effects were not measured or understood. In other words, as Gus had been quick to point out, they had no idea how this was going to effect her.

The Insidious potion placed one under the mental control of whoever administered it. If Siana was administering it to herself, she would automatically go into a trance under which she had control. Her directions were to repeat every single hypnotic gesture that her father and Uncle had ever conditioned her with. Saying the words and copying the actions which had placed her under the control of her family, under the effects of the Insidious, would cancel out that control - as she would be borrowing the conditioning signals. Effectively, after that process had been followed, she wouldn't be vulnerable to hypnosis from her Uncle and father for a month, while the potion started a chain reaction of events inside her body which would scour out as much as the potion as possible, before she needed her next dosage.

Gus had also given her a small concoction which in very small doses relieved the effects of the Locarius curse. For this she had been incredibly grateful. She could now go to Hogwarts, or in fact anywhere, and not worry about being paralysed by its unrelenting pressure. The only problem of it all, was the fact that she hated potions, and what they could do to her.

Siana sighed again and turned on her heel. Maybe she had to approach the Transfiguration different. Maybe she had to change each part of her body gradually - though that would require more effort on her behalf. Maybe it was worth changing into a Protects, or even a fruit bat, and _then_ changing into a cat._ I have no idea, what would Severus do? _

_Well, probably roll his eyes and tell you to grow up. _An ache started in her gut, she didn't understand why it hurt so much to think about him. At first she thought it was just guilt, guilt about Lydia, but on closer examination it was more. Perhaps it was because of the kiss, the fact that he'd said he trusted her._ Would he still trust me now? Now, after almost killing him? After he went to Voldemort so that I might perchance, live? He was never rational. At least I won't have to go through his death threats again, we're past that now. He was quite frightening when he wanted to be. _

She walked to the diagram of a domestic feline, a black cat which would inevitably have violet eyes or at the very least, violet tinted whiskers._ Because I'm a big thunking genetic defect that's why. A Basilican woman. _She changed her hand into a cat paw after concentrating briefly. This was the hard part, keeping it as a paw, when the rest of her was human.

Taking a deep breath she changed the rest of her arm. _Easy. _Her forehead furrowed, holding the shape was difficult, it felt wrong, and she'd never tried to wholly transfigure bit by bit before. She closed her eyes now, willed the rest of her body to change, and slowly it happened. Black fur sprouted like freakish stubble along her body, her spine tingled as she grew extra vertebrae from the base of her spine. Her nose became suddenly very sensitive - a cat's nose, different to that of a Protects - geared towards the scent of meat. Her ears became prominent, important, hearing things her human self could not. Her organs shifted, her throat box changed, it was done.

_I've done it. _

Yet just as she felt triumph sink into her, her claws shifted, something went wrong. Her organs shifted and Siana panicked, and with her panic came an abrupt, if nauseating change back into the shape of a human.

'Oh,' Siana said briefly, shaking her hands uncertainly. She wasn't certain if that was a cause for celebration or not. _But at least I know that I can be a cat, at least I know I can fully change into one. Now all I need to do is hold it, for five minutes. Do it again. _

And so she did, she concentrated, the changes came a lot faster this time. Now that she knew how it was supposed to feel combined, the cat organs, the cat fur, the cat limbs, it was coming to her much more easily. This time, she became a black cat with difficulty, but not near as much as before, and she held onto the animal until she felt her organs shift again.

She changed again, checked her watch and felt elation zoom through her. It bubbled in her, yellow in it's brightness, matching the heat of the Australian sun for strength. Satisfaction rocketed through her so violently that she was spinning around the room before she knew it.

'Look at me! Look at me! I'm a cat! Weeee...' She trailed off in excitement as she whirled around the room. 'I've just made my theory _real! _Wait until I send this baby to _Transfiguration Today! _I'm a cat! I'm a cat!' She spun some more and continued to bounce around in excitement. 'Hah! I'm the best, I'm the champion, oh yes, how I am the Transfiguration champion. Doesn't matter if I suck at everything else, because I've just become a miracle worker!' she shrieked happily.

Siana calmed down eventually, breathing hard, feeling triumphant. Her eyes flickered over her diagrams and a knowing smile came over her face.

_That means that my plan will work, that means that I can go back to Hogwarts, it means that I'm not a danger any more, it means that I can help, instead of hinder. I'm finally something important. I hope this will help. _

_Now, to practise. I want to get this cat smoothly, and properly in future. _

Five hours later, she was satisfied with her progress but thoroughly exhausted. She had made minor alterations to her cat self, changing the eyes to a more acceptable yellow, and permitting no signs of violet on her body whatsoever. That had been incredibly difficult. Now, she was ready to call it a day, and after packing up all her equipment and her wand, she moved out of the room she had been practising, into Gary's house.

'Didn't realise you worked so hard, thought Transfiguration was just a matter of...' Gary clicked his fingers and took a beer out of the fridge for her. Siana smiled gratefully and stretched, her body was aching.

'I'm leaving tomorrow morning Gary,' she said as she flexed her muscles. 'It's all worked out much better than I hoped. I've just got to do what Gus said tonight, and then I'll be heading off back to colder weather!' she said, squinting as the sun poured in through the outside weather. She considered shaking a fist at it, but that would be ineffectual, and her muscles were too tired anyway. She had given them a very decent workout. _Transfiguration Today_ once had an article that the act of Transfiguring actually keeps one fit, as it exercises the muscles - Siana was apt to agree.

Gary looked a little disappointed. 'I wanted you to stay a little longer. It was nice having a female around, ain't been one of those in the place since Meg left. I suppose you have to go though don't you? Being all pioneering when it comes to changing around and stuff. You still got that library to look after?'

'It's taking a really long time to get our inventory back together Gary, most of our books were incinerated.' Siana winced. _Incinerated, and first I had thought it was the entire fault of Macnair, but no Frederick, you had something to do with it too...and for years you said you loved those books. You bastard. Then again, for years you said you hated Death Eaters, and now look at you. I hope you're betrayed into the ground by your peers, I hope they fuck you over so badly you find solace in Cruciatus, and security in Avada Kedavra. _

'Must've hurt you really bad,' Gary was saying slowly and Siana snapped out of her hateful thoughts. She blinked rapidly and then smiled.

'Oh well! I'm so sore hey, but at least I know I can do it. Hey Gary?' Siana said, thinking about something quickly.

'Yeah?'

'Keep it quiet for now won't you? No one else needs to know. No one. I mean it Gary,' Siana pressed, her voice taking on a steely edge which seemed to taint it frequently nowadays. Stress, worry and the sense of determination that she now held even closer to her breast covered every word she spoke. Gary was nodding, vigorously.

'Listen, Siana, nothing to worry about hey. I can keep a secret. I'm friends with Ollivander aren't I? And he can keep a thousand. Us wand makers and sellers keep to ourselves. I got no reason to tell anyone else. I don't even care, it's just shapeshifting. So what? I can't do it. I'm going to give you an example now. Say I find a very very special wood, it's going to change the world, and I tell you that I've found this special piece of wood...well...would you care? No. Well, you'd be mildly interested. It's only important to others like me, Siana. My point is...'

'By Artemis, I hope I don't talk as much as you talk,' Siana said with a wry smile and leaned forward slightly, smelling leather, sweat, pine resin and something a little more musky. Her eyes drifted shut and she pecked him gently on the cheek, expressing her gratitude. When she pulled away, he was looking at her in surprise. 'Now then. I'm going to go and get this organised, I'll see you in the morning okay?'

_It comes down to this. You take both potions, and just ignore the way they make you feel. I hate potions, I hate them. They make me feel like I'm dying on the inside, and they're so overwhelming. Every day, with Dad and Frederick, it was the same thing, that burning sensation. Severus said that the ingredients in the Insidious were fatal, they stayed in the blood stream, they tampered with other potions...and they tamper with my intent. _

_And so, I'm going to have to put up with that burning sensation, that fizzling of my insides aren't I? Because that's the only way I know how to get rid of their influence of me. _

_And fuck them, that I have to do this in the first place. In some ways I wish Uncle Frederick was in front of me right now so I could curse him, and know that my irrationality would probably cause the spell to kill him. I hate this, I hate what they've turned me into. I am a murderer, Dumbledore was wrong. I have murderous thoughts, and Lydia...all those years ago. Look what I did to her. I'm a horrible person. I'm just like them. Just like them. _

_I'm scared. _

_Scared that nothing will change. I mean, once I've taken the potions and burnt all their influence out of me...I'm scared that I'll just be horrible at heart. A murderer, a coward. _

_But if I do this now, I'll be able to go back to Hogwarts. And even though Dumbledore was wrong, I like him. And I can see Severus, and even though we don't have the best of relationships, at least we get along with each other. _

_So close your eyes, and swallow...then follow the instructions. _

Siana pinched the bridge of her nose, closed her eyes and in quick succession placed a drop of the potion that would stem the effects of the Locarius spell, and then the small amount of Insidious inside of her mouth. Then she swallowed.

The burning sensation was immediate. Frightening. She choked hoarsely and her eyes flew opening, pupils dilating. Cold shivers crawled along her skin as her blood seemed to heat inside of her. It was a sensation she well remembered, and the fear that clawed at her, the fear that irrationally told her she was about to placed under the control of someone else, made her panic. She flailed, brutally smashing her hand into the phial and breaking it, ramming pieces of glass into her thigh. She whimpered, keened softly...and then...

Then she slipped into a numbness, the numbness which normally signalled the end of her awareness. Only this time, for the first time, instead of falling under the control of her father and her Uncle, she was now incredibly aware of her body. _Well...well here I am. _It was a strange feeling, like there was nothing else in the world but her, and her thoughts, emotions, physical self. _No wonder the Insidious works so well, nothing else can influence me but me...in the past...nothing else influenced me but Dad and Derrick. Hah. Look now. I'm going to start a sequence of events which will hopefully be the beginning of the end. _

Slowly, clearly, ignoring the trickles of blood that were moving down her wounded thigh (she felt no pain), she raised her hand. Her sight was clear. _And begin. _

Her hands wove strongly through the air as she repeated all the signals that she had learnt, all the signals which in the past had made her vulnerable to hypnosis. With each signal she completed, something seemed to unlock inside of her, a faint sensation that seemed to unleash whispers which were vague, vague and enticing. The fear left, there was no room for fear under the influence of the Insidious potion, just before and after.

Then the audio cues came next as she pronounced each one as forcefully as she could.

She faltered when she came to the one that Frederick used all the time, it seemed wrong to take control of something which he had controlled for all her life, like she was doing the wrong thing. _This is the right thing though Siana, you know it. Come on, just take a deep breath, and say the words...think of it as empowerment, or some shit like that. Something like that. Come on Siana. Come on. You're not frightened, just unsettled. You don't have to be. This is easy. Easy. _

'You're mine...to do with as I please,' she said, her throat hoarse around the words.

That was it, all the cues. She took a deep breath, feeling a little nauseous and shook her head. _Come on, wear off. _The effects were already starting to drain, she was aware of the pain in her thigh, aware of the pain in her aching muscles, and aware of a new and faint burning sensation that seemed to move through her body.

She cleared her throat as she gingerly pulled out pieces of glass from her thigh. Her muscles were so sore from all her shape changing that she couldn't be bothered having a shower, or bathing, or even getting up and going to the bathroom where the light was better, so she could make sure there was no more glass on her. Pain seemed to dim in comparison to her tiredness, and to her relief. Aside from the faint burning sensation moving through her body there were no other side effects.

Siana smiled lazily, despite the traumatic event of swallowing the Insidious potion, she was still basking in the relief of knowing that she could Transfigure into a cat. Pleasure at the knowledge that she was going back to Hogwarts masked over everything else that seemed to be going through her mind.

Carelessly she wiped glass off her bed and then burrowed between the sheets, her eyes drifting shut, sailing into the abyss of sleep. Sleepily she murmured to herself:

'Well, I've started it now. I have one week...to either find the Insidious potion, get someone to make it for me, or the most unlikely, make it myself. A week...I can do that.'

For the first time in weeks, she slept a deep sleep, with a content smile on her face.


	5. Chapter 5

**Spoilers:** PS/SS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA.. Written between Goblet of Fire and Order of Phoenix.   
**Genre:** Action, Angst  
**Era:** Multiple Eras  
**Main Character(s):** None  
**Ship(s):** None  
**Summary:** Siana Basilica has found the first of many answers, and Severus Snape has returned from his encounter with Voldemort. When Siana finds herself back at Hogwarts to continue looking for answers about her strange abilities, and her even stranger wand, she encounters a Snape entirely different to the one she knew before. The Death Eaters and Voldemort are hunting her, and she herself is experiencing unusual symptoms to the one thing that could possibly help her.  
**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Chapter 5; Recruitment**

_What are they playing at?_

_What foul, insipid, disgusting game do they think they are playing at? They have taken the game of war and made it into a game of jesters and troubadours. I would not connect myself with them, but I was one, I would hate Frederick, but it would mean that I have to hate myself._

_No matter. I do._

_It is bad news indeed when I am informed by the apothecaries that there is a serious shortage of Boggart and New Zealand Mandragora. It can only mean one thing, that someone is making the Insidious potion, in large quantities. It can only mean that Voldemort trusts the bastard Frederick, though I know that, really...and that Frederick is soon going to be able to hypnotise whomever he can get his hands on, with minimum effort. _

_Maybe Siana ran to Voldemort after all, and decided that she would help them too. Maybe they've developed more horrific potions. More potions which take forever to find antidotes to. Maybe he wants to poison me again. How dare he? How dare he consider himself to be better than me in the realms of potion making? It is not possible. I have worked far too hard, too long. _

_Svelte. No. Can't think about that now. Not in front of Dumbledore. He'll see, he'll know what's happened. I hope, I wonder if I should have left her at all, if it hadn't been for the fact that this is so serious...no. No I don't care. I don't care. Why would I care about a fox?_

_ Why wouldn't you? Why are you so petty with your hatred that you would resent a creature that is innocent? Flawed only in its naivety? And yet even then is it flawed? Look what you did to it, introduced it to a world of corruption. You're disgusting. Disgusting. Do you hate yourself? It's not enough is it? Find all the hate in the world, and yet you deserve more for what you are. You're a monster Severus. A monster. _

_And sometimes when I close my eyes I hate myself not only for being who I am, but also for what I see. For my weakness. They're all scum, all my weaknesses have been nurtured by the Basilican line. Sometimes when I close my eyes I see Ly...no. Stop it. Don't think about her. And yet, when I'm not thinking about her I'm thinking about the pain in my last visit. I think in truth that I would prefer to be cursed a thousand times with the Cruciatus curse than suffer the humiliation that Frederick inflicted upon me._

_All her fault. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be enduring the misery of a potion I have no cure for, I wouldn't be enduring the agony of knowing that my body can be violated so freely, so viciously, by one who is so loathsome to me. _

_No one must ever know what he did to me there. _

_Not one person. _

'Severus this is a serious matter.' Dumbledore was saying, looking at the pieces parchment in front of him. One coloured unhealthy grey, from Zirs Apothecary, the other coloured white, from Diagon Alley, and even another, coloured green, from an Irish apothecary that specialised in herb products and excluded animal products. Then there was the final parchment, from the Registry of Potions, declaring an international shortage of ingredients...stating in a serious tone that any Boggarts found should be sent to them for harvesting, and any stores of New Zealand Mandragora should be used wisely.

Severus nodded curtly, but said nothing. The Headmaster would elaborate, and there was no point in saying anything else until he did just that.

'I will need to inform the others of the dangers of the Insidious potion then, if they are captured, they will need to know what they are up against.'

'If they are captured Headmaster, and return alive and filled up to the brim with hypnosis, then you can be rest assured that Voldemort has decided to go ahead with some sort of plan. However, if he kills the others, you'll also be reassured with the knowledge that he's decided to go ahead with some sort of plan.' Snape's voice was irreversibly bitter, almost strained. He did not care much for the _others._ The old crowd. The ones who for the most part seemed to get along, were friends with each other. Severus was like the potion wielding body guard, dangerous and deadly.

Never _friends._

'I get the feeling Severus, that you think Voldemort has a plan.' Dumbledore said with a mild twinkle in his eyes. Next moment however the twinkle faded and a fire kindled, low and hot. Severus couldn't predict when the atmosphere went from almost comfortable to intensely discomfiting, however change it did, and he suddenly found himself unable to hold Dumbledore's gaze. He looked away, shifting a little as he did so, hating himself for his weakness. _I have power, if I really wanted to I could betray you. If I really wanted to I could hate myself more than I do now. If I really wanted to, I could become a shining nice person who loved Gryffindors and wanted nothing more than to become Potter's happy brat of a friend. There are some things that will never come to pass._

He swallowed when Dumbledore cleared his throat, silently inviting Severus to meet his gaze again. He did so, slowly, with as much dignity as he could muster. He stole himself against the guilt that suddenly seemed to shoot through his body. There was disappointment on the face of the Headmaster, sorrow, pity, sympathy, compassion..._disappointment_. How the subject could be changed so abruptly was beyond Severus. He did not care now that he was held arrested in the gaze of a man far wiser than he.

'How fares Svelte?' Dumbledore asked, his voice holding no inflection, his eyes communicating what needed to be said.

'She fares well.' _Considering_...she cried when I went to leave her today, and though she's not in pain anymore she still won't lie on her sides and she won't expose her stomach. She flinches if I move too fast near her. She whimpers, she's having nightmares and I think the only reason she stands me is because I was the one who showed her some semblance of care. _Considering_ I showed her that semblance of care and then ripped it away. I really don't want to talk about this.

'Dumbledore, I know you know. I'm not going to pretend innocence until you pronounce me guilty. I already know.'

'Then you would know that your actions are horrific.' Dumbledore said sternly and Severus couldn't help it, anger was suddenly welling in him.

'My actions are my own.' He said shortly and knew, even as he uttered the words, that he was being nothing more than a rebellious and frightened person. Acting out of spite, anger, hatred. Dumbledore knew it and the compassion left his features, he was angry himself, it was a rare thing.

'An _innocent creature_, Severus. Your actions are _never your own_ when an innocent creature is involved. You are made accountable, and I am making you accountable. I cannot let this go, you took her underneath your wing so to speak, to care for her, and this is what happens.' His voice was grim, and Fawke's gaze from his perch was accusing. Severus was angry also, frightened as well.

'I am a Potions Master! Not a Master of animal rehabilitation!'

'Do not use that tone with me Severus, you're only seeking a defensive attitude because you know, for what must be the second time, that you've done something heinous and _wrong!_ You had the option to hand Svelte over, and you did not take it. While I know you did not intend to behave so irrationally, events still transpired which makes me have to say that I'm going to have to confiscate Svelte until you can prove that you can be responsible.' Dumbledore said, his eyes shadowing over.

Severus took a deep and shaking breath. Nothing like this had ever happened before, Dumbledore usually trusted him with any situation, he had trusted him with the life of Harry Potter once. Would he now? _Why did you trust me in the first place you fool? Just because I would die for you, doesn't mean I would not continue to be a monster. Just because I've saved lives and I've helped this world, doesn't mean that I haven't even come close to atonement. _

'Hagrid is to take Svelte and provide her with sleeping quarters.'

'She won't like it.' Severus said suddenly, picturing the creature crying and crying, as she was apt to do. Dumbledore shook his head sadly.

'I imagine there are many things she doesn't like in this life, torture is one of them, Severus. You are to go down to Hagrid's quarters every hour, during classes, during lunch, during the midnight hours...for feeding. There shall be an extra three hours a day given over solely to attention that is constructive and positive.'

Severus was spluttering. His eyes were wild.

'You want me to disrupt my _classes_ to...' He trailed off. It appeared Dumbledore certainly did. 'The students will destroy everything, they cannot be trusted in that room, with so many volatile ingredients by themselves.' He waited for Dumbledore to provide a solution and when none was forthcoming Severus blanched. He could not conceive how he was going to keep his classes in one piece...all those ingredients...it was almost tempting to petrify every student when he left and undo the spell when he came back.

'I'm not doing this to make your life miserable Severus, I'm choosing this as a way to make you see that you cannot be so whimsical with the issue of life.'

'How will you know when I'm...sufficiently responsible?' Severus drawled, his face turning from rage to impassive disdain. Though he was not feeling anything other than worried, and ashamed, he slipped into the fa�ade he knew best. He was also feeling a strange emotion, one that he rarely felt, and that was bereft. The idea of taking Svelte to Hagrid was appalling. Svelte wouldn't hate Hagrid, but judging by the way she was acting so far, she also would not want to leave Severus.

'Give it three days Severus. You're not a good one for handling changes to your routine, and this I suspect is going to uproot it. After three days you will have the choice to take Svelte under your care again, or leave her with Hagrid.' Severus nodded slowly and was about to ask how he was supposed to attempt maintaining a class of children during his absence when he felt that same, strange pressure along his spinal cord.

_Not again. _

He threw out a hand, intending to propel himself from Dumbledore's office as soon as possible. Dumbledore knew of the remaining, periodic attacks, but had not yet seen them. His hand caught at air, his foot kicked out and knocked the chair he had been standing beside sideways. Then he was careening into it, falling backwards as his mind shut down, his heart spasmed violently, and his back let out a crunch is it landed diagonally on the hard, wooden armrest of the chair.

It was just black, mind numbing pain, which once more attempted to destroy his muscles. His chest burned with bile that threatened to eject from the agony.

And then, just the receding ache of fatigue. He slid bonelessly from the armrest, a hand passing heavily over his eyes. He had forgotten where he was. _I...shower, or, potion. Healing potion. If only it weren't impossible. If only I had an antidote for this. If only I knew of an antidote for this._ He groaned in the back of his throat as he shifted his back. Agony lanced through his frame. There were stars behind his eyelids, and as he gingerly attempted opening his eyes, the stars flared, dazzled him.

'Severus. Can you hear me?' Dumbledore was saying, his voice urgent. Snape blinked then, startled, focussing slowly on the worried blue eyes in front of his face. He suddenly remembered where he was, and he sighed shakily. 'I did not wish for you to see that.' He murmured and Dumbledore shook his head, placing a hand at Severus' wrist, checking the pulse. Severus knew what he would find, a racing pulse, uneven, unhealthy.

'This is a lasting remnant of the potion for which you do not have a cure?' Dumbledore said slowly and Severus nodded, wincing. Dumbledore sighed. 'I know no one else to go to in the matter of antidotes, you are the best Potions Master I've ever seen.' Severus did not even have the presence of mind to register pride or smug satisfaction at that comment. Instead he sighed and tried to straighten, uncertain of the damage that had been done this time.

He stopped as a sharp flare of pain seemed to gut his spine.

'Fawkes.' Dumbledore was calling and Snape held up his hand.

'Would that I could Albus, phoenix tears will only exacerbate the effect of the potion. It's been safeguarded against it in the past...unfortunately by my own design.'

'I would not see you in this much pain Severus.' Dumbledore was saying softly, and Severus, damning his back, forced himself into a less crumpled sitting position. He was breathing heavily by the time he managed it.

'I will start working on an antidote then, and perhaps you will not have to. This potion is not running it's course properly. They've added something else to it, and the effects are worsening. I doubt it's fatal.' Severus added at the alarmed look of the Headmaster.

'This antidote will be time consuming won't it?' Dumbledore said heavily and Severus allowed himself a smirk.

'All the moreso because of a certain fox. No...' he grunted, '...matter.' He hoisted himself upright, smoothing his robes against his body, trying to forget the blasted pain in his back. His mind was sluggish and he couldn't quite marshal his thoughts. He cleared his throat uncertainly and then raised a hand to touch the vertebra at his lower back.

Fawkes suddenly made a loud noise, almost of one startled, and Dumbledore looked at Fawkes sharply, as though seeing something. He looked past Severus as though assessing a situation and then a slow gleam came into his eye. 'Of course...' he whispered. 'It _would_ be now.' A smile scampered onto his face and just as quickly left. He extended his hand to Severus and said; 'would you like to come down with me? We have an unexpected guest.'

_Unexpected? Guest? Ah my back. Unexpected guest away Dumbledore, right now I just want to go to sleep. To dream the nightmares that plague me. At least I have the comfort in knowing my nightmares aren't real. Small comfort, considering they're real enough in my head. _

Together they travelled down the moving stairs, saying nothing as they went down together. Severus was lost in his own world so completely that by the time the doorway had opened, the gargoyle had shifted, and Dumbledore was murmuring a welcome, his world was only just starting to come back into focus. And so was the weather beaten fiend standing in the doorway.

_Is this a joke? _

_Ah the two people I want most to see...sort of. Wait. That's not a good look. Severus, that's not a good look. Take that look off your face. You're not supposed to look like that. Oh shit. Oh shit. What have I done? Have I done anything? No, he's probably just pissed off at something else. Really pissed off. Really intent on taking it out on somebody else. _

Dumbledore was smiling between the two of them, though his eyes were flint. It was a look that clearly said something along the lines of; 'behave, or I can be unpleasant.' He seemed to communicate something extra to Severus, which Siana could not even hope to guess at. Severus blinked twice, and then fixed his gaze back on Siana.

'Severus I think our meeting is over, I'll schedule another with you in three days time to discuss our earlier conversation.'

Snape's face twisted and the hatred that seemed to rocket from his gaze penetrated her mercilessly. Siana felt her pulse quicken, her thoughts race, she could smell sandalwood, pepper, _him_...she could feel his dislike and wondered if she could settle everything with a simple talk. Perhaps. She opened her mouth to say something when he turned abruptly and all but ran from the room, slamming the door behind him, with as much force as he could muster.

_'Weird. Not going to ask, because it's weird.' _

'Well it's nice to see you lucid, relatively cheerful Siana. I haven't seen you like this since...well...you understand.' He said, the fact was, that he had _never_ seen her like this. Last time he had seen her, she was grief stricken, irrational, she had been for weeks. Now she was stronger it seemed, still headstrong, still irrational, still irrevocably clumsy, but she was stronger. There was something about the light in her eyes which was triumphant. There was something about the way she stood, which communicated fear.

'Come up to my room Siana. I have a feeling there are things to discuss.' He offered her a hand and she graciously took it, moving up the stairs slowly.

'I'm sorry for leaving you like that, when you asked me not to. The Locarius curse was stronger than ever, and I was...frightened.' She said softly and Dumbledore nodded.

'I can only trust that you have found solutions to your problems. It seems so.' He closed his office door behind him and Siana jumped onto what she wanted to say immediately.

'Are we safe?'

'Of course.' Dumbledore said, walking to his desk. Siana could not even wait for him to be seated.

'I've done it. I'm a third Animagus. It's unofficial, I'll never be registered, but I'm a third. I'm also protected from the Insidious potion, I've reconditioned myself...and the Locarius curse can never affect me again. I have a plan too. A plan that could unseat Voldemort, and give you more information.' She said quickly, her ideas coming out in a rush. Dumbledore, seated, stared at her. He looked, _impressed? _

'I was not expecting perhaps all that.' He merely said and Siana opened her mouth to reply when a flurry of wings greeted her. Fawkes was sitting on her shoulder, butting his head into hers, affectionately. She grinned.

'Yay Hogwarts, and cold weather.' She said softly and sat down at one of the comfortable chairs. The scent of Snape rose around her, and she realised that he had just been sitting in this seat. For some reason that thought brought her comfort. 'Okay I'm just going to start, because I'm nervous, and you know...lucid and rational, which makes me nervous. Here's the deal. I can turn into a cat. No one apart from one person who swore his secrecy in Australia knows I can do that. Advantage one. I could never use my fruit bat or protectus form in front of the Death Eaters because Frederick would have told them. I know Severus is a double agent, but I also know that he's putting himself in danger every time he visits. Why don't I become the familiar of a Death Eater? Say a temporary familiar? Say...for example...a cat that roams back and forth mysteriously?

'That's not all. Of course there's more. It's a start though isn't it? I know how to make myself invisible as an animal, and cats...they camouflage really well. No spell will unseat my Transiguration. There's no spell on the market which will unseat my Transfiguration once I've changed. I know this, because Frederick used every single spell that he could come up with. The Locarius spell is no longer an issue and the Insidious potion well...'

She trailed off and tried to mask her doubt by looking cheerful. She knew that Dumbledore was not fooled, though he said nothing. Instead he looked intensely thoughtful.

'A third Animagus you say? Well aside from dazzling myself, who studied and taught Transfiguration for many years, you have given us all a new option. Why don't we discuss this in more detail? Then we can get you settled in. Of course...I'm not sure in what capacity. Perhaps librarian?'

'Not again.' Siana said softly. 'Not again. Too much...too, I doubt I could even go back to the Basilican property right now. It's just, it's too. Ah for fuck's sake.' She said frustrated at her inability to communicate. _It's just, I'll be in that room, and I'll see where Athena was murdered on the bathroom tiles, I'll see where Severus was shot to hell with the Cruciatus curse. I can't do it. I'll go back home and I'll just...it will be too much._ 'I'm sorry for swearing.'

'Nonsense. Stay here in a research capacity then, please. Teach McGonagall, help her, teach me, I would love to know your theory. It might be worth having you sleep in the dungeons again, with full rights to the outside world this time. It's safe there, and you'd have access to any part of the school that you wished. Forgive me for my eagerness, I was expecting a windfall, I was not expecting this. Shall we talk?'

An hour later the gargoyle was sliding behind her, and she found herself face to face with one very unpleasant Severus Snape. She braced herself, though she wasn't exactly sure why. She felt edgy every time she was around him, she was frightened, fearful of her own past. Every time she saw him, her mind reminded her that she had slaughtered his sister. She had made his life a misery.

'She's back.' He said half to himself. Siana swallowed. She didn't like his tone of voice, she didn't like the black glitter of his eyes, or the very faint twist of his mouth.

'Hello...' for some reason she stopped talking before she could say Severus. She didn't feel comfortable saying his first name, though she was uncertain as to why. She was standing, intimidated and she didn't understand it. The first time she'd met him, she had threatened him as vigorously as he had threatened her, now the atmosphere between them was darker some how, intimate in an intensely horrible way.

'So. Miss Basilica. Have you come back to finish me off? Because Voldemort didn't do it and neither did Frederick. Perhaps you think you'd like to try your luck, you've killed one of us, why not kill another?'

'That wasn't my fault. It was out of my control.' Siana said, but she was bluffing. She believed that it was her fault, that should have done something about it, that she should have realised that her father and her Uncle were up to no good. She felt that she had been stupid, blind. She would never admit it to the proud man in front of her, she didn't want to.

'Out of your control? Are you still out of control? It wouldn't surprise me. It's a convenient excuse.'

'I've fixed the problem.' Siana spat then, feeling unaccountably defensive.

'Have you? Or are you only saying you have? Have you lulled us all into a false sense of security again just waiting to strike?'

That was enough.

'I have it all under control now! I'm free of the Insidious potion. Why won't you believe me?'

'Do you believe yourself?' Snape snarled back angrily, and Siana fought to hide the immediate doubt that was about to crawl onto her face. _I only have a week of this control left, it won't look entirely convincing if I have to leave, and I can't ask you for help...when you're like this._ 'And haven't you, Miss Basilica, entered these grounds on the premise that you've learnt to control your yen for destruction? I'd hate to think you harboured any doubt.'

'My power is controlled now.' Siana spat and Snape's eyebrows raised.

'Oh? Well that's such a relief. Get out of my sight.'

Siana took a step backwards. _What? That's not what I expected so early. _

'Pardon me?'

'Are you as deaf as you are stubborn?'

'But I...but we...'

'What? We had a connection?' Snape sneered unpleasantly and Siana's stomach did a turn. _No. No. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. It wasn't supposed to be like this._ The Potion Master's eyes had narrowed dangerously, his face was a fiendish mask. 'Did you ever think, for one second, that my kissing you was an involuntary response to your subliminal control over me?'

Siana recoiled and yet at the same time felt the urge to fight back. _There's no way you're doing this to me after all I've gone through. I don't trouble myself with the thought of other people lightly, and you've done nothing but haunt my thoughts since you left, you bastard. _

'That's bullshit Snape and you know it.'

'Oh, don't even presume to know what I know.' He whispered silkily and Siana's eyes narrowed as she scowled.

'If there was a word for someone who was beyond bitter and twisted I'd...hey!' She shouted. Snape was already starting to walk away from her. 'Don't you walk away from me!'

'Why not?' He called over in a droll voice. 'Are you going to half kill me?'

And then he disappeared around a corner. Siana seethed, positively boiled in her frustration. She growled in the back of her throat and then turned to kick the hell out of the stone gargoyle only to find herself frozen mid kick. Dumbledore was standing in the entrance, looking mildly cheerful.

'Is there a problem Miss Basilica?'

'Why does he have to be so horrible! He wasn't like this when I left.' She glared after him. 'Miserable bastard.' Her fingers clenched around her wand, clawed it unhappily. _I just want to poke you in the nose with it. That's what I want to do, just whack sense into you. Not that I'm violent, not that I'm a murderer._ Her thoughts were frantic. _I'm not a murderer, I'm not._ Something was racing inside of her mind, something unbidden, frightening. _How could I be? How could I..._

_ She's looking at Snape, but she's not in Hogwarts. There is a distant rumble of thunder, and she's just staring at him blankly, but he is not returning the blank gaze. He looks very interested in her. Vaguely she remembers. Sibilant Stow. Nothing was happening, he's just...and then he raises his arm and the feeling fades...she's clicking, something is clicking _

'No.' She whispered..._it's not supposed to..._

_ 'What do you mean you don't understand why the new potion isn't working? You'll make it work!' Frederick, roaring. Her eyes blank, fear racing through her. She's locked in a prison. A horrible prison. _

_'You'll kill her in the process. Experimentation is one thing, murder is entirely another thing Derrick! Or is that what you're wanting most. I've seen the way you look at her...you're too possessive. You would have her dead with your new potions.'_

_'Dead?' Stalking up to her. Fear definitely racing through her now. Unsettled reactions in her body, something entirely unexpected. 'The bitch dead?' A leering, cheerful expression. His face pushed into hers. Enjoying the fact that she was unable to react. 'No. Why would I want her dead when she's easy entertainment?'_

_Something in her peripheral vision. Explosion of pain. Pain. Her neck cracking from the aftershock, and then another explosion, focussed on the other side of her head. Neck cracking again. And a third explosion, a scream...hers? She wasn't supposed to feel fear under this potion. It wasn't supposed to make her frightened. But she was always scared...because inevitably there would be a fourth blow. _

_Fourth blow, and blood. Trickling. Nausea...she felt like she was about to black out. _

'Wait...' She whispered, holding out her hand as Dumbledore reached his own out. She was shaking her head vigorously but the pain wasn't leaving. She couldn't shake the pain. 'Wait. _Wait._ Wait. This isn't supposed to...no.' Her throat was hoarse suddenly. _Side effect._

_It's a fucking side effect! _

Yet her mind was clearing as she started to think again. Her eyes seemed to focus on the walls around her, on the concerned old man in front of her. She exhaled heavily and shook her head as though to clear away cobwebs. For a moment she was too dazed to say anything, and then suddenly she heard herself say; 'it wasn't supposed to be like this, but it's the only way...to get it out of my system.' The words damned her, even as she said them. She knew that if she were to get more memories, she would be lost in a world that she wanted nothing to do with.

Dumbledore frowned and said nothing. Siana sighed explosively and passed a hand over her forehead. She did not notice, as the Headmaster immediately did, that it was shaking. Her face ached, as though she had been slapped recently. It was a strange sensation.

'I'll call Argus Filch to escort you to your new quarters.' Dumbledore finally said, his voice heavy. Siana said nothing, her wand was suddenly an unbearable weight at her side, her skin was suddenly crawling with cold. She had nothing to say, and would say nothing, she merely stood silently as Dumbledore withdrew to fetch Argus.

_I feel like I'm singing the same song again. Only, same song, different war. I don't know what to do. _

_Why is everything so much more complicated than it has to be? _

_ Because of what you are. Murderer. Don't you know anything? Better just to get the plan underway. Whatever happens in the meantime. Happens. _


	6. Chapter 6

**Spoilers:** PS/SS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA.. Written between Goblet of Fire and Order of Phoenix.   
**Genre:** Action, Angst  
**Era:** Multiple Eras  
**Main Character(s):** None  
**Ship(s):** None  
**Summary:** Siana Basilica has found the first of many answers, and Severus Snape has returned from his encounter with Voldemort. When Siana finds herself back at Hogwarts to continue looking for answers about her strange abilities, and her even stranger wand, she encounters a Snape entirely different to the one she knew before. The Death Eaters and Voldemort are hunting her, and she herself is experiencing unusual symptoms to the one thing that could possibly help her.  
**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Moony, Padfoot and...Siana?**

Two days passed without major mishap. _Two days. _It seemed like time was passing too quickly. She now had five days left to find or make the Insidious potion, and five days was not very long at all when it needed twenty four hours to simmer. Not as long as others, but long enough to reduce the amount of time she had to four days left. She knew that she could never get away with asking Severus for help now, he would never help her...and the apothecaries had posted notices on their windows plainly proclaiming the shortage of Boggart ingredients. She knew what that meant too. _Frederick, you're beating me, you want to have everyone under your control, and I think you're smart enough to do it. _

Every time she saw Severus she flinched from his hateful gaze. He had not troubled himself to talk to her, had not lowered himself to even mention her name. He walked away from her when she was in the same area as him, and as he swept away his hands curled as though he was itching to reach for his wand, or her throat. He was scaring her, and she didn't understand his _complete _change in attitude.

The only thing that she could ascertain, was that he wasn't healthy. And she had ascertained that in the worst way possible, by seeing him when he was vulnerable.

Now that she had quarters in the dungeons, she could not help but run across him frequently. All the moreso because he seemed to have somewhere to go on a regular basis and so was in the hallways much more often than usual. The night just passed had found her stumbling into the narrow stone corridor hearing a short shout, and almost tripping over the injured form of one Severus Snape.

'Professor Snape!' She had shouted in alarm, bending down towards him, and he had lashed out, violently. His hand caught her shoulder, though perhaps he had been aiming for her face, and she was thrown backwards into the wall. Her breath crushed out of her. She gasped anxiously and thought..._deja vu. _The last time she had been thrown against a wall, Severus had done it whilst in the throes of a nightmare. Now however, he was awake, his eyes did not show mercy or compassion, just blind hatred.

'Stay away from me!' he'd snarled and Siana had a split second to think, _he's defensive because I've seen him in pain. _Then he was talking again, wrenching himself off the floor, favouring his stomach. 'It's disgusting enough that you're back and Dumbledore thinks he can trust you, it's more revolting to think that you're staying in the dungeons. I'm warning you Siana, I'm watching you...all the time. If you step out of line once, just once...' He left the threat hanging and Siana blinked.

'I should say the same to you. What if you step out of line?' She had gasped and his eyes had narrowed then. A twisted smile curved sickeningly over his strained features.

'If I step out of line, I hardly think you have the power to stop me. After all...it's not like you have any latent skill.' The fact that his voice was strained, his hands were trembling, detracted from the effect of the statement. Though Siana was still hurt by it. _Bully. You're behaving like the bullies at Moreberries. Just because I have no skill doesn't mean...what's the point of all of this anyway? _

'You're in pain. I was worried,' Siana said then, throwing caution to the winds. She was worried, and he was in pain, and she wished that there was something that she could do. She was frightened of him, and frightened for him. It was a horrible combination.

'Touching.'

Siana's face twisted, her hands were trembling now too, she was more than worried. She stood up, her back throbbing from where it had his the floor, her lungs still aching as she drew breath. She moved towards him, her hands reaching out.

'Severus I'm...'

She grunted then as stars blazed in front of her eyes. Her body was back against the wall, she was winded a second time, and she registered a point against her throat. Her body froze with terror. A wand point. She tried to gasp, and then focussed on breathing. Her chest hurt. When she opened her eyes and recoiled from the unpleasant rictus imprinted upon his face. He was all but snarling.

'You _killed_ my sister, Miss Basilica. I hardly think we deserve to be on such a familiar first name basis.'

'You...' she painfully drew breath. 'You said yourself that you misjudged me, you hypocritical bastard. I'd hate to think that we were going through the preliminary hatred again.' She gulped down her breath and then flinched as the wand pressed harder into her throat.

'I thought I'd misjudged you, when you had lulled me into thinking that it was out of your control. Yet you still let me go to Voldemort, you still almost killed me, if it hadn't been for Dumbledore I would be dead.'

'I fetched Dumbledore for you, and I was...incapacitated when you went to Voldemort.'

'Incapacitated? How convenient,' he said softly, the pressure against her neck lifted but Siana didn't feel any safer. _Why do I like him? Why did I like him? Why is he being like this? Maybe because...well...I did kill his sister. And I did nearly kill him. _A heaviness settled into her heart, most of what he was saying was true, even if it was tainted with hatred. 'How convenient,' he whispered again, his voice like some horrible poisoned silk, coursing through her. 'I can _see it in your eyes. _You know as well as I do that you're a guilty fiend dear Miss Basilica. Miss Basilica of the Basilican sadists, the one who have pioneered torture method after torture method.'

'What did Voldemort do to you?' Siana whispered, terrified, intimidated, but so worried that she couldn't stop the words from leaving her throat. Snape's eyes narrowed and his face became momentarily drawn, as though he was thinking of something he'd rather not remember. However as soon as the expression came, it went, and there was nothing on his face but lazy indifference, that look of sheer indolence which carried with it a cutting wit and a macabre sense of humour. He withdrew his wand and looked up and down her body showing clear contempt for what he saw.

'Would you believe not half as much as the Basilican family?' he drawled and Siana felt stung. Her eyes glittered angrily.

'No. No I wouldn't you snide bastard,' she said, her anger coming out in spite of her worry. She dodged away from him, clearing the path so that she could move once more. Her back ached from where it had hit the wall. 'No. How dare you compare my family to him, how dare you?' She said it quietly, so that any passing student would hopefully not know what she was talking about. Severus however was merely looking at her, it was disconcerting.

'I think given half the chance, even your little dead sister Camille would have grown up to be a monster. Her in her what was it? Ballet costume? Believe me Siana, I'm sure she looked innocent enough, but if she was anything like you, she was a deviant. Voldemort ordered your family killed for a reason Siana, and it was either because he didn't like the competition...or because everyone just wanted to see your dear father dead.'

Siana was speechless. Once, a long time ago, she had used Camille to shock him into realising how irrational he could be. Now however he was deliberately using the death of her little cousin Camille against her! She had nothing to say, and feeling her throat tense in pain she turned, and walked away. She was even more surprised when he didn't even bother to stop her, or call anything out.

She wandered, dazed and distraught amongst the floors for a few hours, the sun had set and a lot of students were in their dormitories, for which Siana was grateful. The events of the day were just making her feel nauseous, and the anxiety of having to find a way to make the Insidious potion in order to keep herself safe was weighing down upon her mind. _I want to read a book...but what would keep me entertained now? What could I possibly lose myself in at this time? Not even Dante could draw me from this. And, I want to change, but how will I do that? A fruit bat is more likely to be caught by that festy cat Mrs. Norris, and a protectus? That will scare most of the students. And I can't change into a cat either, unfortunately because I'm top secret until I go and become the familiar of a Death Eater. _

She sighed. Her eyes were trained on her slippered feet, her hands were curled inside her robe, and her back and neck were sore. The flashbacks - for that was what they were - had happened infrequently, but what she saw frightened her, and what she felt was more frightening. Frederick hit her a large amount of times when she was under the influence of the potion, and she was ordered to do horrific chores that after a flashback her limbs burned, though she had not over exerted herself. It was discomfiting to know that a memory could have that much effect on a single mind.

She was so preoccupied that she didn't even notice someone walk past her until she heard an unusual gait to his walk, and a quick turn, which indicated that he had either realised something, or wanted to know who she was. She slowed down. Then before she was even interrupted, she knew who it was, she could smell him. That smell was unmistakable. For a moment she felt fear, until she remembered that she had nothing to fear. She turned slowly.

His dark eyes smiled at her through the darkness and Siana felt a weary happiness move through her. A bittersweet sorrow almost, about what had happened in both their lives.

'You shouldn't be able to wander these corridors, if a student saw you he'd freak. Mr. Black anyone would think you had a death wish,' Siana said and Sirius shrugged.

'No one actually makes it up to the sixth floor, certainly not around here. There are no classes around this area, and it's been protected by Dumbledore so people like me have a place to stay. How on Earth did you manage to make your way in here?' he said and suddenly his eyes twinkled and he held out his arms. 'Scrap that for a joke, come give us a hug.'

Siana walked into the arms of Sirius Black without a thought to the past behind him. It was just nice to hug someone again, for she hadn't truly hugged someone since the last time that she had seen James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black. It wasn't the greatest hug, Sirius keeping his distance a little, he was obviously concerned about something, and when she drew back she saw tension in his face.

She also realised for the first time, that aside from a few torches, it was very nearly pitch black. She looked around, and wondered how on earth she had managed to make her way in here.

'I really lost track of the time,' she muttered.

'Come on then. Walk and talk with me. Spare some time for a lonesome choirboy?' he said with a rakish grin and Siana shook her head as she started walking alongside him._ I think it would be dangerous to still like you Sirius, you're a devilish fellow. _

'Lonesome choirboy eh? More like undersexed. Must be a lonely life for you Sirius now. Bet you're getting used to the celibate life.'

'I've had to,' Sirius said softly. 'Even muggles know what I am, not that I'd...well...you know. Not that I've been so desperate as to hunt anyone down. Hah. That's a bit of a joke considering that's all I'm known for now. You know, hunting people down.'

'Poor baby,' Siana said, it was half the truth though. She forgot that he had to live the life of an outcast now. 'Well unfortunately I'm above giving you pity sex,' she said on a lighter note and he laughed then, turned to look at her.

'Honestly Siana, anyone would think you didn't care for my poor self esteem. I'm _supposed_ to be irresistible.'

'You're also supposed to be charming, but for some reason everyone takes charming to mean sex starved,' she said and the giggled at the look of mock outrage on his face. Their eyes held for a moment longer and then he looked away a second time. She kept looking at him, studying his profile, noticing how lean he looked, how undernourished. When he looked back at her his gaze was intense.

'Where did you go?'

'Pardon?' she said, taken aback by the question.

'After I saw you last, with Harry, you said you had to see Dumbledore, and then you were gone. He wouldn't tell me Siana, I asked Dumbledore so many times and he wouldn't tell me. It must have been pretty major, because I'm not kept out of the loop on a hell of a lot anymore. You know Harry likes you, how'd that happen? Most people are _frightened_ of you. You're a hazard to people's health, you should come with a warning label like potions bottles do,' he said then and Siana couldn't help but punch him in the arm for that.

'Firstly, I left because I had to, I was a danger to people here. Something to do with my gorgeous Basilican family. Secondly why shouldn't Harry like me? James did.'

'And to his detriment. No no I'm kidding, you know I am,' he said, holding up his hands. 'Still, I am kind of happy you never went to Hogwarts.'

'Damned straight,' Siana said with a grin. 'Because I would have killed you, and I still might, so don't hold your breath. How you finding your dog form? That still alright? Any creases that you had to iron out with the change?' She kept her voice very quiet for that and Sirius didn't even seem to notice that she had bought up a topic which was still a secret to most of the wizarding world.

'No. It's all good now. I was trying to convince Harry to go for it, but he said that there's only one animal he'd want to change into, and he didn't have the time to manage that animal what with Quidditch training.'

Siana nodded. The stag was one of the very hard animals to transform into. Siana had been surprised James could manage it, but then he always did have a latent talent for Transfiguration.

'I can hear talking.' A hoarse voice called from nearby - they had walked into a small room that was also dimly lit - and Siana froze. _No. It couldn't be. _'Pads, are you talking to yourself again? The general consensus is that talking to oneself is not a good thing to be...' A shape emerged from the shadows and Siana's hand flew to her mouth around the same time that the light hair, the worn face, was lit up by a dimly shining torch bracket.

'...Siana?' he said and Siana said nothing. _No. This is too good to be true. _'Siana? A Basilica at Hogwarts? I'm impressed,' he said, his voice holding the joy of meeting someone he had not seen since before the death of the Potters.

'Impressed? Is that all you can manage? You haven't seen the girl in how many years and you're only impressed? Personally I think you should be terrified, there are oak trees in the Forbidden Forest after all aren't there?' Sirius said, half chuckling to himself as he went to light more of the torches in the brackets, tactfully giving the pair space. Siana's eyes drank in the details which needed to be updated, more lines on his face, more sadness in his eyes, a haunted look which will perhaps never leave him.

'Oh. My. God. Moony?' she said then, finally daring herself to acknowledge who it was in front of her. He smiled gently and folded his arms.

'Lupin now,' he amended and Siana laughed, it was delightful. It did not make her forget what had happened earlier that day, but events would certainly be more bearable knowing that these two were around.

'My God! By-'

'Artemis.'

'Sirius said you guys still keep in contact. He said you were here last time I came.' Lupin nodded, looking at Sirius as some of the final torches were lit. He then made a pretence of looking out of the window, still giving them space. It seemed that Lupin was as happy to see Siana, as she was to see him, there was something in his eyes that was open, despite his closed posture.

'You still...aversive to the full moon?' Siana said tactfully and Lupin nodded slowly. Siana lowered her voice and looked at Sirius furtively then. 'Ah Lupin I'm sorry. Listen...I need to ask you something. I let it go earlier with Sirius. Is he really innocent?'

'Yes,' he said firmly and Siana winced.

'Then who?'

'You don't know?' Lupin seemed not necessarily surprised, but perhaps a bit concerned that Siana did not yet know.

'That's what I let go earlier, so no.' _I had to run away because of the stupid Locarius curse, and I couldn't find out. And now, I don't think I want to know. _

'Peter,' Lupin said tiredly.

_'What? _' Siana hissed and her hands clenched involuntarily. Lupin spread his hands but said nothing. _That little rat. He didn't have to take that path. He didn't have to. Last time I saw him, he was doing okay, a little bit beaten up on, but okay. I wonder what turned him? _

'Last time I saw him he was missing a finger, but relatively unscathed,' Lupin continued calmly, his eyes darkening. 'Hopefully Voldemort makes his life more of a hell than we would, though I rather think that goes without saying. Did you kill Lydia?'

'The, Insidious...' Siana said jerkily, she didn't want to say yes to someone she had been friends with since she was younger, even if she did believe she was guilty.

'I'd like to kill every male that ever was proud of the last name Basilica,' Lupin vowed darkly then and one of his hands seemed to spasm into claws momentarily. At that something seemed to grow inside of Siana, blossoming, a sense of gratitude she had never felt before.

'Aw Moons, you're so sweet. Forever my sweet little puppy,' she whispered as she enfolded him in a tight and caring hug. She knew that he would not appreciate being called a puppy loudly so she always said it in an undertone to him. Ever since meeting him for the first time in his human form, she had been quick to reassure him that he was not a monster. Lupin's own hands curved tenderly around her waist and she heard him mumble; 'thank you,' into her shoulder. She smiled then, she couldn't help it.

Siana and Lupin had never been particularly close, it was always James who she had talked to, Sirius who she had stuttered around bashfully, Peter whom she felt pity for and Remus? Well...they never really had much to say to each other, their silent exchanges consisted more of sharing a compassionate bond. Siana feeling for him; his curse of being a werewolf, the shame and the hidden beauty he carried around in his silent prison. Lupin silently feeling for Siana; literally locked up in her tower or a private school, carrying around her self loathing. Now, with a simple hug, they both managed to finally convey to each other, that they understood.

'Thank _you,_' Siana murmured as they drew away and Lupin, looking tired and content, merely shrugged. Sirius was looking at them now, from his position near the window sill, a confused half smile playing upon his face. 'So are we safe?' Siana said and Sirius nodded.

'There are guards, protections and stuff. Nothing can get through here. Well, not if they were looking for danger anyway. So all these years, you can't have been a slave to your bastard father for that amount of time? Right?' He waited for her response and when none was forthcoming his face fell. 'Oh.'

Lupin sighed and then quietly chuckled.

'Outcasts now. All of us. You'd be the last Basilica, well, aside from your Uncle - Dumbledore told us about that - and we're, well...I can't imagine their ever being a time when we can live normal lives. Especially you Sirius, I mean you were so ugly in the first place, and now you have the attached stigma of being a homicidal maniac.'

Sirius spluttered. 'Ugly?' he said and Siana laughed.

'You're right Lupin, I mean, I think he's got a receding hairline now too, that's never good. Girls don't like the bald ones from what I hear,' she joked and relished the look of mock outrage playing on his face. He slid off the table and held up his fists, as though asking them to spar.

'I'm warning you two,' he said mockingly and Lupin grinned, openly grinned, his face seeming to appear so much younger with that simple gesture.

'Why Pads, I'm more of a looker than you now. Fancy that,' he said, and that appeared to be the final straw for Sirius.

'Right, you and me, here, now. Siana can referee,' he said, and Lupin shrugged.

'Nah you'd beat me.' He was always the first to back down from even play wrestling, and Sirius dropped his hands.

'Aw, and there's no point fighting Siana, it'd be like breaking a twig.'

Siana had the presence of mind to look offended but they all knew it was a lie. The truth was she couldn't fight, and they were all having too much fun pretending otherwise. However there was a pall amongst them now that hadn't been there before, the death of James and Lily Potter, the betrayal of Peter Pettigrew, the secret lives that both Sirius and Lupin now had to leave. There was a sorrow between them which could not simply be erased by a few kind words. If anything, the breaking up of the four, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs made Siana's chest close up with pain. After all, she would never really be one of them, and even now it seemed that all Sirius and Lupin wanted was the peace of the olden days, when time was spent running around Hogwarts and escaping the grounds.

'So what are you? Like Dumbledore's secret force or something?'

'Of which you are now a part,' Lupin said quietly. 'I know you have some tricks up your sleeve, though the Headmaster won't tell us what they are. We also know that you plan on being a sort of double agent? He said it was considerably less risky than putting Severus in the hands of Voldemort again.'

'Yeah. As much as I hate that git, he was really...Siana you should have seen him when he came back. He didn't know who he was, or where he was,' Sirius said, his face turning with disgust as he remembered. Siana swallowed and felt pain in her throat, she hadn't wanted Severus to go, but there had been no other choice at the time. Either her or Severus, the presence of one would make Voldemort happy, the presence of the other would make him full of wrath.

'What...what happened to him?'

'Well. Funny. We don't know. Dumbledore looked after him for about a day, then left it to Madam Pomfrey. His injuries were extensive, if you look hard enough on the top stair into the Great Hall of Hogwarts, you can still see a blood stain which Filch hasn't been able to remove yet. That's a fair indication of his external injuries. I think it's fair to say that Voldemort definitely didn't want to see him last time he went.'

'Wipe that look off your face Sirius, you're just unhappy that Voldemort didn't finish him off,' Lupin said softly and Sirius looked at him, pain seeming to pass over his face. He tensed then, as though thinking about something from a long time ago, but a shadow crossed his face and took the expression with it.

'I just...never mind.'

'He's not evil,' Siana said softly, though as she said it, she remembered how he had treated her earlier that day. 'He's just very, I don't, well, he's not evil,' she finished and Sirius shrugged.

'Yeah well. Evil is a very extreme term, there's only one person I'd call evil, the rest just do evil things. And Severus is right up there with the worst of them. He dug his own grave when he was a student at Hogwarts if you ask me. Why are we talking about this?' he said suddenly and shook his head, clearing cobwebs away as his did so. 'Listen people! Haven't seen each other in years, and we're talking about this?'

'If only we had a bottle we could spin,' Lupin said, winking mischievously at Siana. Siana giggled.

'I'd only play that on the thirty percent chance I'd get to see you and Pads kiss. So I'm going to pass, because I don't think that's going to happen, or at the very least not in front of me,' she added with a raised eyebrow and ignored the looks that both Sirius and Lupin gave her for that comment. Instead she shrugged. 'No. Let's just sit and talk, like old times, only now we're older, and hopefully a little wiser,' she said and Sirius shook his head as he sat down on the stone floor, indicating Lupin and Siana to follow his lead.

'Wiser? No. We're not wiser Siana, not any of us. There's only so much one can go through in a lifetime and I think in some ways we've all gone through enough to take us from wisdom into something more irrational. Something deeper really,' he said and Siana's eyes narrowed. _Was that true? I'm not wiser now, my decisions aren't based on the coolness of my logic, they're based on the warmth in my bones and in my heart. I'll never be as composed as Dumbledore, and I don't think that these two will be either. _

'You're right of course,' Siana said and Lupin nodded.

'We're not professors at heart, any of us. We've just seen the insides of hell, and maybe it makes us better equipped to fight darkness.'

'Speak for yourself Lupin, you're a professor of the Dark Arts,' Sirius said and Siana hid her grin. Lupin was always destined to study the Dark Arts, not because he had loved the topic, but because he understood it, and because he was a creature who lived in the classification of a Dark Creature anyway. Sirius, had he not been framed, was probably heading towards whatever he could grab, he never really cared what he ended up doing, as long as he was happy doing it.

'Shut up Pads,' Lupin said quietly, though he didn't mean it in a brutal way. 'We're not ever going to be who we were again, and I don't think we could be, or could even want to be, considering what we know now. No wonder we're helping Dumbledore, there's nothing left for us to do. We can't know what we know, and not help. It would make us as much of a criminal to stand by when we could be doing something...and I don't know about you two, but I have no desire to ever know in my heart that I had done something atrocious.'

Siana said nothing, because in her heart, she knew that she had murdered a human with an Unforgivable Curse. The knowledge weighed down on her and she felt even more separated from Sirius and Remus than she had before. She swallowed and blinked, staring blankly at Sirius who was now saying something about spending time inside of Azkaban.

_Voldemort never really left. Not our lives anyway. How could we ever hope to be free when darkness haunts our every movement and our every thought? We're not innocent, and I don't think we'll ever...well, we'll never shake off the shadow. There will always be something to atone for, when you're self condemned. _

Hours later Siana was wandering the dark halls of Hogwarts once more, tired but very thoughtful. She had been sleeping restlessly anyway because of the nightmares and so she didn't particularly want to go down to the dungeons to bed yet. There was also the possibility that she'd run into Snape, she seemed to see him at impossible times, and she had no wish to ruin what had been a pleasant evening, by being threatened at wand tip once more.

Ideas were running through her head. Talking with Remus and Sirius had encouraged her to be more determined in terms of acquiring the Insidious Potion. She had thought of something which filled her with dread and quiet exhilaration, something which would test her skill but would leave her with the opportunity to make the Insidious Potion and remain in control of her wand.

_Sneaking into Snape's potions stores. I could do it too, if I went in as an animal, or even as a human, it would still leave Transfiguration to fall back on. Only, what would happen if I was caught? He wouldn't, no, he wouldn't kill me. I'm desperate too, I need those ingredients, without them I'm...I'm going to have to leave again and I can't handle that. So it's not like, it's not like I have any choice. _

It didn't seem like a totally worthless idea. It was a sign of how desperate she was and how little avenues she had, that she was seriously considering walking into what could now only be enemy territory. It was imperative to her that she didn't revert back to being all destructive all over again, the idea of it was too traumatising. It was hard enough knowing that she usually hurt people just through being herself, harder to know that she could kill people when she was trying to help them.

_So I'm going to do it then. And nothing, come hell or high water is going to stop me. Though I'm going to have to do it soon, so I'll do it tomorrow, once Snape has left for one of his regular and unusual trips away from his rooms. I'll do it then. It will give me plenty of time, or time enough for me to grab what I need and then bail. I should probably get extra too, just in case I screw up the procedure, which I'm inevitably apt to do. _

Severus Snape blinked dazedly. Low roaring fireplace in one corner, the sound of someone snoring loudly, and then when he looked up, a pheasant's carcass. He winced and then as dawning horror set upon him he leapt upright, unsettling a small ball of fur that had been curled up at his side.

_Of course, it's not humiliating enough that I have to come here, I have to fall asleep too. _

His hand was automatically reassuring Svelte as he took in Hagrid, snoring into his large wooden table, his bushy beard rising up and covering most of his face. A tiny twinge of guilt pinched at him. It was after all a kind gesture of Hagrid to not wake him up when he had been tired, Hagrid was full of kind gestures. Next to Dumbledore, Hagrid was one of the few people that Severus mentally counted a human being. He didn't know if he liked Hagrid because of his loyalty to the Headmaster, or because of his simple way of life, and the persecution that he had suffered for being half giant. He also knew that he would be damned before he let Hagrid know that he felt anything more than loathing for him.

He stood up slowly and his back protested, it was still sore from being smashed against the wooden armrest of the chair in Dumbledore's office. He had almost damned everything and taken a healing potion earlier but it would have been suicide. Until he made an antidote, which he was starting to realise would be a laborious process, he would not be able to shake the pain.

He looked down at Svelte who was curled innocently against a fold in the somewhat worn quilt. Most of what he felt was trapped affection. Seeing the small creature every hour, for two days, was forcing him to realise certain things, things which he hardly wanted to admit to himself. He was tolerant of the little fox now, tolerant of her tendency to want to fall asleep while he was there, tolerant of her tendency to want to romp back to the sanctuary where he had first found her. He didn't understand her preoccupation with the area, perhaps she, like himself, just found a security there that could not be found anywhere else.

His affection for Svelte was not making him any nicer to his students, if anything it was making him more irrational and grumpy when it came to handling the human race. He'd often leave his potions classes with strict instructions for them to behave themselves, and come back to find that something had gone wrong, because he couldn't supervise the potion making process. It left him angry, he could not teach the students well enough, because he had another responsibility now.

He very nearly placed Hermione in charge of the Gryffindor and Slytherin class earlier that day, and the thought itself horrified him. Hermione Granger? In charge of one of his classes? _I think the potion is actually making me clinically insane, I think I'm losing complete control of all my faculties. The sooner I get rid of Svelte, the better I am able to control my classes, yet...the breaks from the apathy and stupidity of students are somewhat refreshing, the innocence of Svelte is...more appealing than I thought it could be. _

There was a day left before Dumbledore would review the situation, and Severus still did not know which he would choose. He cleared his throat softly and walked over to Hagrid. The lump of a man was hulked over, clearly fast asleep. Severus cringed and withdrew his wand, then he sharply poked Hagrid's head with the tip of it. As the Care of Magical Creatures teacher awoke Snape pasted a sneer on his face, one which came too easily, reflecting the pain that he was in.

'Your bed is now free,' he said curtly and wondered briefly he should perhaps apologise for falling asleep. _Why? You couldn't control that. Besides look at the great lump, it's not like it's doing him any harm. _Hagrid was blinking sleepily, obviously focussing on the Potions Master with some difficulty.

'Oh...righ' you are Professor. Thanks for letting me know. The table isn't exactly comfortable if yer catch my drift,' he said with a wink and Severus swallowed.

'It won't happen again.' _There. That's the closest I get to an apology Hagrid. _Hagrid however was waving his hands around, like a large, strong windmill.

'Now now, I'm not blaming yer!' His voice then became quite loud and Severus placed a cautionary finger against his mouth, pointing with his other hand, which was still grasping his wand, at Svelte. _Quiet you buffoon, it took her an hour to sleep tonight, and the last thing I want is to have her crying all over again. _Hagrid followed the direction of Snape's hand and nodded.

'Sorry Professor,' he said, though when he looked back at Severus, there was a strange glint in his beady eyes. Was it...no it couldn't possibly be. _Not admiration? No. _'So I guess you'll be off then no doubt. Now that she's settled down for the night an' all. How you finding seein' her all the time?' he said and Severus looked at the tiny creature sleeping on the bed.

'She reminds me of an animal companion I knew a long time ago. It's different,' he said, suddenly nostalgic. 'Listen I'll be back first thing tomorrow morning, if she doesn't sleep during the night contact me immediately. It would not be a good thing of your classes got any worse than they already are because of lack of sleep,' he said dryly and Hagrid chuckled nervously, though it was obvious he had been hurt by the statement, he tried to mask it.

'Righ' then. Good night Professor Snape,' he said, tipping an imaginary cap. Severus nodded curtly.

'Good evening Hagrid.'


	7. Chapter 7

**Spoilers:** PS/SS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA.. Written between Goblet of Fire and Order of Phoenix.   
**Genre:** Action, Angst  
**Era:** Multiple Eras  
**Main Character(s):** None  
**Ship(s):** None  
**Summary:** Siana Basilica has found the first of many answers, and Severus Snape has returned from his encounter with Voldemort. When Siana finds herself back at Hogwarts to continue looking for answers about her strange abilities, and her even stranger wand, she encounters a Snape entirely different to the one she knew before. The Death Eaters and Voldemort are hunting her, and she herself is experiencing unusual symptoms to the one thing that could possibly help her.  
**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**A Dangerous Play**

Siana woke up anxious, she didn't sleep very well, her slumber was filled with a cross section of nightmares, though less flashbacks. She had a small amount of time left to make more Insidious potion, she was frightened, and she was nervous. After all, she was about to invade a teacher's private quarters, something which she was sure must be illegal...or at the very least against the 'rules' of Hogwarts. She was one to generally abide by rules, she had been abiding by the rules of her father and her Uncle all her life and to completely abandon them was against her view of rules.

She grunted, shuffled down the hall in her nightgown still half asleep, and still trying to piece together fuzzy methods of breaking into his office. She remembered vaguely that Harry Potter had an invisibility cloak, but how would she go about asking him for that? No. That was out of the question. _James would have lent it to me._ She thought then and sighed as she pushed her way into the bathroom that had been reserved for her.

Once the shower was going, spurting water of a comfortable heat, Siana stripped down and stood under the spray, letting the steam wake her up. As water streaked down her face she realised that the best and probably safest method was to just march in there...straight after he had marched out. His leaves from his private stores were extended. The only problem Siana could think of, was if he had put charms on his ingredients. She wasn't very good at breaking charms.

_Siana face it, you're not very good at doing anything, the only thing you can do is Transfigure, and even then...it's pretty useless in the real world, you can't exactly spend the rest of your life doing it, unless you taught it, and you'd never get the students respect._ She knew that was true too. As she scrubbed herself with the soap the school provided, she found her eyes travelling over scars that she normally ignored, or forgot were there. Little pockmarks, long, thin slashes that were only visible when she was very hot; simply because the scars stayed white when her skin was reddened. She didn't know why she had a lot of them, and had never really thought about it...but now she wondered if it would eventually be something that she would flashback.

She hoped not.

She washed her hair as the soap rinsed, scratching at her scalp as she did so to get rid of most of the dandruff which she would be damned before telling anyone she had._ Yes fine, you're a freak Siana. Aberration. Squib. Almost a Squib. _She chuckled in the back of her throat, it was humourless. The fact was, that a pall of despair was starting to worm its sneaky way into her soul. She was tired, and sad, and she missed the companionship of Athena, her beautiful barn owl.

_I miss the companionship of an animal. Period. _

She missed the days she spent deep in the heart of the Basilican forest, amongst the deciduous and evergreen pines. She'd lean against the bole of a tree, and Athena would make friendly hooting noises from the branch above, like giving a lecture in a foreign language. Athena had been a very special owl, she had never taken a mate, despite being very mature, and she had lent Siana more power to make spells work. With Athena around, she could do more in other fields than normal, she had not been an ordinary owl. Athena, for wisdom, for justice, she was a beautiful creature.

Her breathing was slightly laboured now, the shower was the place where she dwelt on the sorrow, on those she missed, and on those she would rather forget. She never cried, but her throat still felt sore, and her chest still heaved nonetheless.

She would never tell anyone of her grief, she didn't want anyone to know that she could possibly be weaker than she already was.

Twenty minutes later she was walking briskly from the bathroom, back to her quarters, dressed in a deep violet robe. She was thinking about which Death Eater would accept a familiar.

_Well...it's not like you know a lot of them. Lucius Malfoy, Dad used to talk about him a lot. Then there's Frederick, haha very funny. Imagine being his familiar, I'd probably be skinned alive. It would be too suspicious for me to be the familiar of Snape...so...oh well. Maybe I'll just leave it to Dumbledore to choose. I wonder when I'm going to be sent out on assignment? I can't just show up at a meeting with Voldemort, I'm going to have insinuate my way into the person's life. Ugh. And then...meetings with Voldemort. Yuck. It's a shame cats vomit so freely, I'm going to have to not do that. Wouldn't go down well if I hurked my guts up every time I looked at him. Though it would be funny. _

The corners of her lips quirked up at the thought of vomiting on Voldemort.

The rest of the morning was filled with a quick breakfast, some absent chatter with Professor McGonagall about her second Animagus (Siana couldn't remember that conversation) and watching Severus furtively from the corner of her eyes. Of course, Siana's furtive glances were never _that _subtle, and after her second sidelong look, he pinned her with an acidic glare.

Then she spent the rest of the afternoon studying Severus' movements, which weren't too regular. However the fact was, that when he went, it was for a considerable amount of time. Enough time to get what she needed. _Score._

It was late afternoon when she finally got the courage to take advantage of his absence, and she ran to his quarters breathlessly, the parchment with the ingredient sigils clenched in her fist. As she pushed open the door, she managed to gut her cowardice. She was going to do this, no matter what._ Come hell or high water right? Lets do this. _

Severus was almost at Hagrid's hut when he suddenly felt something buzzing past his ear and swatted at it. The buzzing stopped and he continued to walk, and then suddenly the sound came back again, a high pitched whine. He frowned, looked around for the offending creature, couldn't see one and again, continued to walk.

That's when he felt the sharp bite of pain in his arm.

_'Ah!'_ He cursed as the pain flared, exploded with the bite of venom. His hand crashed down clumsily against his forearm and he felt something squish against his robe. His hand then also started to sting and he looked towards Hagrid's hut, suddenly realising. _Doxy, it's a bloody doxy._ He started shaking his hand free of the tiny, squashed limbs.

'Hagrid!' he roared angrily, though he was fully aware of the fact that Hagrid would not be able to hear him. Hagrid had been talking non stop about the swarm of doxies that he had procured for Care of Magical Creatures. They were venomous creatures, covered with a thick black hair that had healthier breeding habits than both rabbits and mice. Despite their human appearance, they were not possessed of any humanity, acting like spiteful insects. He glared balefully at Hagrid's hut. He could no longer go and visit Svelte as he had intended, he would have to go back to quarters and get the antivenom. As far as he remembered, Madam Pomfrey no longer stocked it - after all, it wasn't as though the doxy was native to Hogwarts.

He swore under his breath, repetitively as he stalked back to the castle. The pain was flaring in his arm, and in his hand. Absently he took his wand out of his and pointed at himself. _'Desino Cruciatus.'_ He said, his voice hissing through his yellowed teeth. He was furious, angry that Hagrid could get away with not exercising more restraint over his creatures. What if it had been Svelte that had been bitten? Not him? She wouldn't have survived the venom.

His eyes narrowed. He abhorred the way Hagrid ran his classes. He would be having words to the Headmaster about it, there was no way the doxy could belong to anyone else after all.

The grass of Hogwarts disappeared under his feet as he rapidly moved towards the castle. He still had to visit Svelte, and didn't want to waste time preparing an antivenom. _She'll have to stay with me now, what if she had been bitten at Hagrids? The bumbling fool. It's a shame Kettleburn stopped teaching the class, at least he had the presence of mind not to keep a free reign on dangerous creatures. First savage hippogriffs and now this...he has to learn. I'm going to take great pleasure in talking to Dumbledore about this, after all, he'll have to listen to me this time._

He marched up the steps, slammed open the doors, startling a few first years. The first years scuttled away then as Snape glared at them, and he continued to stare menacingly at any other student that dared to glance in his direction.

His robe snagged on a sharp piece of stone once in the dungeons and he ripped the cloth away, frowning at the tear. The pain wasn't overwhelming, but was ruling his anger.

He was just about to barge into his private quarters when he saw that door was ajar. _This is exactly what I need._

'Oh no. Don't move,' Severus breathed, one wand tip pressed hard against the back of her neck. Siana jumped and practically had to swallow her heart back down into her stomach. _Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap. Oh crap. Oh fuck._ His free hand insolently curved down her waist as it searched for her wand, his fingers deliberately acting as though they possessed her body. When he found the wand, he threw it some feet behind her.

_'Snape,_' she began, her voice hitched with terror and she trailed off when his own wand tip all but stabbed into the back of her neck. Her head rocked forward from the force of it slightly but there was no where else to go. She was standing in front of an open glass cabinet filled with scores and scores of vials with sigils on them - and some without.

'Take a few seconds to think about where you are,' he purred, a dangerously comfortable purr.

Siana swallowed.

'Now I...' he breathed down her neck, raising goosebumps. His voice silky but perilous. 'Now I know you can't possibly be stealing from my potions stores to make a potion for yourself...because you _can't_ make them. Here I am at liberty to infer two things. First, that you're stealing the ingredients for someone else, or secondly, you lied about failing potions and could make them all along.'

Siana blinked as the shock sailed through her.

'That's a dangerous implication...are you implying that I could have cured you in Sibilant Stow?'_ You think that I could watch you die? I can barely stand the thought of you getting hurt, unless of course you deserve it. You probably deserve it right now. _Her neck was aching, she vaguely remembered Macnair, so many weeks ago, pressing his wand into the back of her neck. _Do they train all Death Eaters to aim for the vulnerable parts of the body? Or just the really powerful ones? _

'The ingredients were there...' Siana sparked with anger.

'I hate to say it, in this vulnerable position I'm in, but you're a bitter fool.'

Professor Snape said nothing for a few moments then knelt behind her, keeping his wand against her, but moving instead to her lower back. His hand reached inside her ingredients bag and she frowned, dread coursing through her. _He's going to find the worst, and assume the worst._

'Snape, please...'

'I hardly think this is the time or place to be asking for my mercy.'

'On the contrary,' she mumbled to herself as he withdrew the tiny vials. She knew he'd realise straight away what she was trying to make. She dreaded his reaction.

Suddenly a hand on her shoulder spun her around and she was facing a scowl and a hand holding up some of the crucial ingredients. His eyes were black with malice, his face demonic.

'Explain yourself.'

'I-'

'You what? Who are controlling now?'

'It's not what you think.'

'Let me tell you what I think. I think, in my hands, are the potions ingredients of one _Insidious Potion._ These cannot be used for any other potion.' His hands turned white around the vials, and Siana for a moment was surprised that they didn't shatter in his grip. Then she remembered vaguely, Frederick's strange collection of potions, he had thrown some of those bottles against the wall, and they had never shattered either. She had no idea how to reply to what Severus was accusing her of.

'I -'

'Am I correct?' he breathed and Siana's face fell.

'Yes.'

'Who did you come back to bend to your will this time?'

'No one!' she shouted, a loud counterpoint to his quiet anger. His nostrils flared and a muscle clenched in his jaw. In his other hand, his wand trembled, a spark flared and died. Siana didn't exactly fear for her life, but she did fear for her personal safety...this was not someone who she could trust now, that much was clear. She hated the fact that she had kissed him once, felt those lips against hers. She hated the fact that she had known a part of him that _did_ care and that _did_ show kindness, hated that it contrasted so clearly with the monster that was standing in front of her.

'You have been found guilty of being a murderer, now you've been found guilty of being a thief. Your integrity at the very least, is dead.'

Siana winced, the anger that had been bubbling inside her started to die. She was feeling defeated by him, he was going to thwart her one attempt to rid herself of her father's influence on her personality. _You're going to badger and badger me until I tell you, and if I don't tell you, you'll go to Dumbledore - and he can't know, because he thinks I'm safe. And I _am_...well currently, and god. God. I should have known I'd be caught, I mean, I'm not good at anything. _She seemed to suddenly deflate with despair.

'It's for myself,' she said flatly.

'I don't bel-'

'Look in the bag, there's a log book that says so. You can test the pages for the truth if you like,' Siana whispered and Snape bent down again, this time forgetting to keep the wand trained on her. Momentarily Siana realised she could disarm him in this position. For a moment it was tempting, but she knew nothing would come of it. Better to let him have the upper hand. After all if she disarmed him, he'd only overpower her...and then he'd trust her even less. She noticed with some surprise that the hand holding the wand was red, it looked painful.

He was flicking through the black book, tapping his wand on some of the pages and reading out some of the symbols under his breath. _Ah of course, he's going to see my paltry attempt at working with potions._ At one particular page his eyebrows rose in surprise and he looked up.

'You want to transfigure the potion?' For a moment, the monster in him died, replaced only be sheer curiosity. Siana responded to that curiosity, wished that she could confide in him. She didn't understand why she wanted this, only understood that she saw more in him than he showed to others, that she wanted to see the other parts of him on a regular basis.

'I haven't been able to get the ingredients until now - apothecaries won't sell them unless you're a Potions Master, I can understand that. And then I was going to ask you...but you made it pretty clear you hated me when I came back.'

'You're a Basilica, it's not personal. Oh no, wait, you and your father are the reason why I hate the Basilican bloodline. It is personal,' he ground out and Siana shivered at the malevolence in his tone of voice. 'And I'm also assuming they could still control you through the potions effects, after all if you need the potion to recondition yourself, which is obviously what you want to do...then you're still a danger to yourself and others. Fancy that. You hoodwinked Dumbledore.'

'I did no such thing,' Siana said softly.

'And I believe you. How could I not when the situation so innocently presents itself?' Snape glared at her and then a moment later tucked the small vials of ingredients into his pocket. Siana blanched. _No. I need those._

'I'll pay you for them,' she said hastily, her voice desperate, she was not beneath begging at a time like this. Short of procuring the ingredients, the only other option she had was making the potion herself, finding the ingredients herself. Finding a green rooster...getting some New Zealand Mandragora and worst of all, confronting a Boggart in the state of which it most feared her.

'They aren't for sale,' he said, and there was the hint of a self satisfied smile on his face as he said it. He thrilled in his power, in what he could do, in what he _was_ doing.

'Severus you-'

'_Professor Snape_ to you _Miss Basilica._' The sign of the self satisfied smile went, replaced with sheer hatred. Siana ignored it, kept plunging into what she wanted to say.

'Professor please this is crucial to-'

'To you? Do you think I give a damn what is crucial to you at this moment?'

Siana shook, she was cold with fear, this was her last chance, her absolute last chance. There was no other way she could glean the ingredients without letting someone else know about her precarious predicament. She largely suspected Snape not only knew that, but was enjoying her desperation and hating her at the same time. She could feel her heart beating.

'We'll strike a deal,' she said hoarsely and Snape then smiled, a horrible smile. His eyes raked her body blatantly and Siana felt oddly, uncomfortably underdressed.

'There's only one thing of yours that I want, and I doubt you'll bargain with it. Though I could be wrong, you could be cheap.'

Siana blanched again. _Oh no. Please no._ 'Why are you being so horrible?' she said, her voice coming out smoothly, but the pain in it was evident. For a moment Snape was silent, as though steeling himself against her desperation, but a second later his words wiped out the thought that he could ever be reconsidering his cruelty.

'Would you be desperate enough to give me your body in return for some potions ingredients?' he taunted and Siana whimpered in the back of her throat. Would she? _I daresay I would. I want this to be over, I want my past to be over now. I don't want it to hold me like it holds me now. _

This was the precipice. If she didn't recondition herself with the Insidious Potion in the space of a fortnight all her work, six months of work would be wasted. She'd have to leave and start again._ Leave and start again? Leave the only place I feel secure? Go back to Australia? Well it'd be nice to see them again but no! No! I can't do this, I swore to myself I was going to stop running, and I'm going to stop running, no matter what. _

'Yes,' she choked, her face burned with shame. 'Yes I would.'

'Say it.' His voice was clipped, impassive, if she felt the shame before, it was nothing to the humiliation that rocketed through her now.

'If you give me those ingredients, I'll let you use my body.'

There was a pause, an odd light in Snape's eye. Finally he said: 'Fascinating. Now get out.'

Siana blinked.

'But I-'

'As nice as it is to know you're about as ethical as a common whore, I don't want your body. Now take your damned wand get the hell out of my sight!' he barked and Siana flinched. Recoiled away from the sound of his voice, from the message in his words, from the own humiliation that was destroying her.

Woodenly she moved past him, as she picked up her bag and book she found herself expecting him to move, or make another dry remark but instead he stood, motionless. She could feel her world disintegrating. She also felt uncomfortable and intrusive as she picked up and pocketed her wand, his silence was a clear wall between them. As she turned to go he cleared his throat.

She turned, thinking she'd forgotten something. He was starting to put the ingredients back in the store cupboard. Siana could feel herself painfully flushed from embarrassment. Even with his back turned, she could still feel all his focus trained on her, beating her down.

'If I ever see you in my private stores again Miss Basilica, I will make a point of killing you with your own wand,' he said slowly and Siana, not wanting to stay for another moment in his presence, nor wanting to arouse his wrath any further, decided to go.

Barely breathing, she turned and left.

He turned silently and watched her go, rage seething through him and the temptation to curse her anyway very strong. His teeth were clenched and he could feel a sheen of sweat on his forehead. He was tense, angry, shaking and at the same time concerned. _Why are you desperate enough to make such a ridiculous gambit with your body? Why? And I nearly took you up on it too. Nearly. Filth._ Without thinking his hand reached out to the bottle containing a general oral antivenom, he sipped the contents, immune to the foul taste and closed his eyes at the bliss as the pain left.

He took several deep breaths and then shelved the potion, closed the cabinets and minutes later was striding back to Hagrid's hut, his face burning with fury, his hands clenched at his sides. His robe billowed out behind him in the afternoon breeze, the fluttering annoyed him, and he let the irritation swell his anger to greater heights. He was the master of vengeful wrath, especially when it wasn't appropriately righteous.

He slammed the door of Hagrid's hut open, hating the look of surprise on the huge man's face.

'You have _no idea_ how to be a teacher!' he snarled and pointed to the cage of doxies in the corner of his room, humming unpleasantly. 'I had just taken precious time out of my very very busy schedule to see Svelte when I find myself interrupted by the venomous sting of a doxy,' he snarled and Hagrid's eyes widened. 'Imagine that,' he added, his own tone of voice about as poisonous as a doxy sting.

'But I didn't let them out,' he stammered and Severus shook his head, his eyes narrowing. _Hagrid I severely doubt that is true._ Hagrid looked at the doxy cage and then his eyes suddenly widened in realisation, his face fell. 'Cept for when I was feedin' them,' he added and Severus growled in the back of his throat, _damn you Rubeus_, it was the invitation he needed to let go.

'Obviously you seem to assume that there actually is a brain in that head of yours, but Hagrid, I sincerely beg to differ. Your creatures are a menace, your teaching methods without discipline, your classes are not well received, I distinctly remember you causing Draco Malfoy a grievous bodily injury when you were first, _mistakenly_, assigned the job of _teacher_ in the first place!' he said, working himself up into a rage, a target of the day's events. In reality he wanted to be cursing Siana, or Frederick, or even (though he would never admit it) himself.

'If those _things_ had bitten Svelte, she would not have had the luxury of finding an antivenom in time like I did! Did you even _think_ about asking Madam Pomfrey to stock up with the appropriate ingredients before you let those things loose in the school?' he barked and Hagrid shifted as he stood awkwardly. The Care of Magical Creatures teacher lost bucketloads of confidence when his prowess as a teacher was challenged, especially by another teacher.

'I...Sir, I just assume that you'd...you're a great potions ma-'

'Oh is that your excuse,' he cut in, his lips curling in disgust. 'A great potions master! What a placatory thing to say Hagrid, exactly the kind of thing to make me realise how underestimated your stupidity really is. Please tell me it doesn't run in the family, I would hate to discredit your parents, though I would not be surprised,' he sneered.

Hagrid looked extremely upset, though he was trying to hide it. Severus marched over to Svelte and instead of picking her up, he placed a gentle hand on the back of her neck, soothing her. The yelling was upsetting her.

'I'm taking her now. After I've placed her in the safety of my quarters I'm marching straight to Dumbledore and I'm going to...' he trailed off, his arm was hurting again. He looked at it, confused, and a second later had to close his eyes as the pain radiated so violently outwards that it nauseated him. Retching, he stumbled out of Hagrid's hut, unable to answer the concerned pleas of the Keeper of Keys.

_Oh what in god's name is it now? _

He was violently ill, falling to his knees by the water barrel, as the pain went straight to his gut and he vomited the contents of everything he had eaten not only that day, but the day previous. Agony ricocheted through his limbs, not the agony of the actual potion itself, but the agony of a rejected antidote, a severe allergic reaction, it felt as though his guts were boiling in hot oil. Through the dazzling white pain and nausea he was berating himself, for he realised that he had done this to himself.

_You used an antidote you fool, an antidote, the very thing that you cannot use because of the bastard potion they force-fed you. You're lucky to be alive. Though if you want it enough, you could let the claws of death take you, Lilith only knows it's been tempting. You'd be lucky to find the shadow of death. You have precious little to live for. _

Blackness surged across his eyes and he limply fell to his side, his last thoughts echoing in his mind...

_Well. You may be lucky enough after all. _


	8. Chapter 8

**Spoilers:** PS/SS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA.. Written between Goblet of Fire and Order of Phoenix.   
**Genre:** Action, Angst  
**Era:** Multiple Eras  
**Main Character(s):** None  
**Ship(s):** None  
**Summary:** Siana Basilica has found the first of many answers, and Severus Snape has returned from his encounter with Voldemort. When Siana finds herself back at Hogwarts to continue looking for answers about her strange abilities, and her even stranger wand, she encounters a Snape entirely different to the one she knew before. The Death Eaters and Voldemort are hunting her, and she herself is experiencing unusual symptoms to the one thing that could possibly help her.  
**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**A Trial Run**

_Oh my head..._

_What was the last thing that happened? Oh, that's right, I got bitten by a...no. That's not the last thing, Siana? And think, if you had said yes to her request, you could be assuaging some physical needs which you haven't assuaged in a long time. So if Siana wasn't the last thing that happened it would have to be, oh yes, the smart decision I made to drink an antidote when I knew I couldn't ingest them. Very. Very. Smart._

_And why are my eyes still closed?_

His eyes shot open, surveyed the gleaming hospital wing, took in the worried face of Hagrid who was standing at the foot of the bed, and Madam Pomfrey, who was leaning over him. His eyes narrowed then, lines creased into his forehead, he became ever more aware of his throbbing headache.

'I sincerely hope, Madam Pomfrey, that you did not try to medicate me.' He said cuttingly, his voice a lot smoother than he'd hoped and Madam Pomfrey shook her head, grimacing. She shifted backwards, she knew how volatile he could be, she didn't make a habit of provoking those who managed their anger and hostility badly. She spoke as she started to automatically straighten the sheets on his bed, it was a nervous habit of hers, especially when she had someone like Severus for a patient, however temporarily.

'I well remember from last time Severus. I've given you some water, and that's all.'

He looked from Pomfrey to Hagrid, and saw that he was grasping the end of the bed with his massive hands, crinkling the sheets between them. It surprised Severus that Hagrid would be so worried, then he remembered that Hagrid was in enough trouble as it is, without having a Potions Master die in his hut as well. There was something about the concerned look in the great man's beady eyes that made Severus grimace.

'Kindly wipe that look off your face Hagrid, I'm surprised you're not more pleased about my lack of health.' He sat up, biting back a cry of pain and swallowing down bile at the same time. _Well this is just fucking lovely. I can't even take comfort in the knowledge that I can go back to my quarters and take some antidote, because until I make one, there is no antidote. My, I would just love to destroy Frederick, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see his blood staining Hogwarts rather than my own._

'No. No Professor. I'm not like tha'. Are you okay? Should I go to-'

_'No one_ must know of this.' He gasped as the pain lanced through him, eating away at him. 'No one must know of the severity of this.' He commanded again when he got no answer, glaring at both Madam Pomfrey and Hagrid, daring them to disagree.

'Professor Snape, Dumbledore would know what to do.' Hagrid said quietly and Snape inhaled between clenched teeth.

_'No chance.'_ He hissed, standing, ignoring the pain as best as he was able. He stifled the groan in the back of his throat, and it ended up emerging as a choked noise. Hagrid was watching him like a faithful dog, and it just made Severus angrier, he couldn't understand the loyalty. He saw the look pass between Madam Pomfrey and Hagrid, and decided not to comment on it. He knew what they were thinking, they would be wondering if he was rational enough to make that decision, if he was well enough to leave the hospital wing. He also knew that it wasn't up to them, he was a Head of House, he could do whatever he damn well pleased.

He left the hospital wing without another word, doing his best to stalk, when the pain was stiffening up his limbs. One just how much one took for granted a predatory waltz when pain was flashing up one's limbs. He grimaced, his left hand moving to his pocket in the pretence of touching his wand, and rubbing at muscle knots there instead. It had been an interesting day, _and not in the least bit pleasurable. I'm getting too old for this job, for life in general. It's funny Severus, you're not even thirty seven yet, and you still consider yourself old by anyone's standards...well...it's what I am isn't it? Old by anyone's standards. Seasoned in evil._

He scowled.

His fingers fanned out again as soon as he entered the cold of the dungeon corridors, his fingertips touched and skimmed along the cold and damp stone. The oozing wetness under his fingers was familiar, the smoothness of the cut stone, grounding. He liked the dungeons, liked that most people only associated the place with Slytherin and potions making. It was _his_ territory. He had owned precious little aside from his dignity throughout his life, and even that had been stripped of him on more than one occasion, in the presence of the Death Eaters. The dungeons of Hogwarts made him feel like he was home again. He was entirely aware of how pathetic that most likely made him, after all, dungeons in themselves were not exactly the most homely of places.

It didn't matter really, he knew, what he thought. He understood his intellectual brilliance, had understood it from a very early age, when Lydia had spent days and days wondering just how he managed to be so smart. He also knew that he was an effective fighter in combat, that he had mastered his wand as well as any other person. Yet he also knew that he was bound to the Death Eaters, and no intellectual brilliance could save him from that decision which he had made with his heart, not his head, so many years ago. After all, his logical self had told him that though it would seem thrilling for a while, it would not truly be what he was looking for. His heart, deadened with grief and twisted with bitterness had ranted and ranted until he found himself sporting a mark on his forearm, and a death count in his head.

He remembered too much of those days. Too much of the web that he was surrounded in, that he manufactured willingly, that others around him developed. He had trapped himself first, and then had been trapped again and again afterwards. Rape had not been the norm, not for him, at least. He was brilliant enough to escape a fate, and Voldemort seemed to have too many other jobs for Severus to do, to worry about him serving as 'entertainment.'

And then, there was the last time he went. _He might not trust Frederick, but he certainly likes the mans motives more than he likes mine. _True enough, after all. It had not been about making Severus happy this time, after all, the Potions Master was walking on a dangerous blade and Voldemort worked at Severus mercilessly. Here's a fresh victim that you can sink your venomous fangs into...It was true that he had killed since being under the care of Dumbledore. It was also true that he was still having nightmares, waking up from being violently ill, destroying himself with guilt. Hating himself with an anger that surpassed even his anger of the Basilican bloodline.

He hated himself more now, than perhaps ever before. He could not believe that he had let Frederick do to him, what Frederick had done to him. In his nightmares he still relived the experience, almost like being eviscerated from behind. Violent, excruciating, unconscionable. Then there was the blood, which had been everywhere. And then, the worst of it, was Frederick himself, the words that he used, the pleasure that he took, the cheerfulness of his manner. No other Death Eater had that same carefree attitude.

_Basilican's must have something genetically wrong with them. _His eyes darkened from black to black hole.

He heard the snick of a door and saw another pale Basilica freeze upon seeing him. She looked like a rabbit caught in the lights of a Quidditch stadium. He continued to walk, staring at her.

As he passed Siana a cruel smile curled on his lips.

'My we are looking tired lately...'

'Yes.' Siana said, her voice was vague, not really caring about what she said. Her eyes were trained on him, fear imprinted in the violet depths. He hated her eye colour, every time he looked at her, he was reminded of her history, her heritage. He hated a lot of things about Siana though, it was a vituperative and brutal emotion. The pain still residing in his body did not help.

'You know he'll find you. Voldemort has your dear Uncle basking in the palm of his brilliant hand. And your Uncle just needs to move his hand, to have you resting in the palm of his.'

There was a sharp intake of breath there. _That's because you know it's true you conniving bitch. _She looked away briefly, and instead of seeing anger fly up into her features she just turned back to him looking like she had been hit by a steamroller. The dim light of the dungeon hall did nothing to improve on her pallid skin and brittle hair.

'If he finds me, then you can be rest assured Professor Snape, that I won't be dragging you down with me.' She muttered, her voice strained with her bitterness. She then looked down the corridor again.

'If you're looking for someone to brutally slaughter, I can always recommend Hagrid.' He growled and Siana blinked at him, shocked, she looked exhausted. Then she seemed to swallow, her hand moved against her stomach and she was moving quickly to the bathrooms. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that she looked very ill.

He turned, as though to follow her, an instinctive habit born of curiosity (though heaven forbid caring) and then he decided that he would probably do to leave her alone now. She was evidently frightened, he had threatened her with death earlier after all, and she didn't seem very coherent. _Probably because I stopped her from being able to make the Insidious Potion. Well, that's just going to unmask her as the fraud she is._

Yet even as he hated her, he felt a mild twinge for concern. After all, he had been hounding her mercilessly for days, and the sport was wearing. It wasn't as much fun when his opponent gave mild responses and looked at him like that. He didn't like seeing people beaten, even when they deserved it. He decided that stemmed from his days of being a Death Eater, it had been vanquishing that he had hated the most. Not the tormenting, not the torturing, not the slow breaking down, but breaking itself.

Which of course, makes no sense. Fool.

He made a noise of disgust in the back of his throat and turned again, only to find Dumbledore standing in front of him. He blinked, startled, and then sighed. He shouldn't really be surprised, Dumbledore was known for his quiet and stealthy entrances.

'It's the evening of the third day Dumbledore, I've made my choice.' He said, cutting directly to the chase. Dumbledore looked down the corridor to the bathroom that Siana had just run into, and then looked back at Snape, his eyes were twinkling, even in the dim light.

'And what is that choice?'

'I wish to keep her with me...because...' And then he stopped, and _why_ he stopped was beyond him. He was just about to launch into a vicious tirade about how Hagrid's creatures were life threatening, dangerous. How Svelte could have been killed, how his arm still throbbed from the bite, how the Care of Creatures Teacher was clumsy and careless. He wanted to scream about how useless Hagrid really was, how he should not, under any circumstances, be allowed within ten feet of a classroom ever again. Yet he couldn't say anything, the face of Hagrid, worried, at the foot of his bed kept climbing into his thoughts.

'Because?' Dumbledore tempted and Severus looked beyond the Headmaster.

'Because it's a nuisance to have to walk so far to look after her.' He muttered shortly. When he looked back at Dumbledore, he noticed the Headmaster was nodding mildly, the doubt not exactly _on_ his face, but there, hovering around him.

'You can collect her this evening then. Now, was that Siana I just saw run into the bathroom?'

'Yes.' He said curtly. He'd be damned if he was going to be lectured on something else today.

'Good. I need to discuss something with her. A matter of some urgency. I also need to talk with you. There's going to be a meeting soon, in which you will need to be present.' He said softly, pointedly looking at Severus' forearm. Severus could not hide his blanch, the fear that curdled through him, the change in his breathing. Dumbledore frowned and reached up to touch Severus on the arm, however the flinch, the intake of breath, made him withdraw sadly.

'We'll talk about this later. Right now I need to talk to Siana. If you'll excuse me.' He said, and he calmly walked past the Potions Master. Severus watched him knock on the door and heard the muffled 'go away!' The tone made him cringe, especially when Dumbledore looked from the bathroom door to him, with raised eyebrows. However the Headmaster said nothing and turned back to the door.

'Would you not even see a doddering old Headmaster? Dear girl, I'm offended. I think they're calling it ageism now.' He broke off as the door opened and Siana's startled face withdrew as Dumbledore walked inside. The door closed with a quiet snick, and Snape was left standing in the corridor, curious and sickened by the thought that he would have to see not only Voldemort again, but also Frederick.

Siana walked stiffly back into the bathroom, sitting on a downturned toilet seat. The Headmaster sat opposite her in the only chair available. _Why is he here? Does he know about the Insidious potion? Did Snape just tell him? By Artemis I couldn't handle that. Please don't let it be that. Please don't let it be that..._

'Would you do me the immense pleasure of showing me your third Animagus?' He said softly, his voice warm and Siana looked at him in surprise. _Sure. I can handle that. I can so handle that. Watch me._

She shifted immediately, easily. The shape came to her with little concentration now. She then changed back. Dumbledore was nodding, the triumph in his eyes clear, the pride was soothing inside her soul. It was rare that a person managed to summon up anything akin to pride within her presence. It was also a fact that she was feeling so shaken by the day's events, most importantly the fact that she had offered Severus her body, and he had refused, and the fact that she now had to get the ingredients of the Insidious herself; that any show of positivity made her feel alive.

'Brilliant. I must say Siana, despite your records at Moreberries as being Squib like in design, there is only flawlessness in your Transfiguration skill. I don't understand how one so gifted at one particular branch at magic, is so ill equipped for other forms.'

'Genetics.' Siana muttered dryly. 'It's a trait of the Basilica to only be good at about say, two or three things. The Archiving talent goes without saying, which usually means we only have one or two things left to excel at. With me, it was Transfiguration. Frederick was weather magic and potions...though he was one of the lucky ones, he got to add torture skill to that list too.' She said, her voice deadened of expression. Dumbledore sighed.

'May I ask you a favour? Would you change again and let me attempt to break your transformation? If I cannot break it, than it is highly unlikely that Voldemort would be able to. It's not a guarantee, but more a possible safeguard.'

'Sure.' Siana said softly. She changed again, slipping into the comfortable form of feline once more. She preferred the Protectus, after all, there was something very appealing about being able to change into something that no longer existed. They had wiped themselves out, without the help of any other creature. A huge fox, with a great sense of smell, greater cunning than she possessed. She decided that tomorrow if she had the time, or the inclination, she'd run around the Forbidden Forest as a Protectus.

It was then that she realised she was getting bombarded with what felt like little pulses of heat, he was trying to break her Animagus, it seemed by overwhelming her with the spell that Frederick used to use. _Oh no Dumbledore, Frederick used to do that too...you'll have to pull some pretty funky tricks out of your sleeve to get me to change. _She watched with amusement through her discerning cat eyes, as Dumbledore changed tactic again and again. Finally he paused, and she was just about to change back when he blasted her with a spell that Frederick had never used before.

She felt the heat pull sharply at her, and she fought to maintain her shape, she was successful. It was the closest she had ever come to being unseated, since she had mastered holding her shape. He blasted her three more times in quick succession and by then end of it, though she showed no physical change, she was physically labouring to hold onto her shape. When he leaned back, indicating he was done, she gratefully changed back to her human form.

'Woah. Baby. What was that last one you did? That's a newie.' She said breathlessly, clutching at her chest. Dumbledore was looking at her, openly showing his respect now.

'That 'newie' was a last resort, that I doubt even Voldemort would use. You don't seem to be affected by my spells at all, except for _now. _'

'That last one, say you did it around twenty, thirty times? That would have worked.'

'My dear. No one wants to sit around and keep bombarding you with the same spell twenty or thirty times. Even people like Lucius Malfoy who can be quite pedantic with repetitive spell casting. Well Siana, I must say it is a relief to know that you can hold onto your shape so marvellously. Could I ask you a favour? One which I will endeavour to repay?' He said and Siana's eyes widened.

'Uh. Yeah.' _Repay_ me?

'Will you teach me your method? How to hold onto a shape? I might not have the skill to be able to manage it, just as I may not be able to manage more than one Animagus, but I would like to try. I often have several projects at the same time running, and I would like this one to be a priority.'

'Um.' Siana said softly. She didn't exactly know _how_ she had learnt that technique, but she had definitely learnt it. It had a lot to do with desensitisation, and just, a sense of mentally holding on. Eventually it had just become a defence against anyone who would be wanting to check her real identity. 'I can try. Giving you my theory - which you've probably read most of in _Transfiguration Today_ - to change into a second or third Animagus is easy enough to read, but hard to apply. Very hard. A lot of things can go wrong. I mean, even before I got the cat shape right I accidentally forgot a foot, and before I perfected the fruit bat, I accidentally forgot lungs. That wasn't funny. I don't want to see anyone else make those kinds of mistakes. You're more prone after the first Animagus to endangering your health.'

'I think Siana, the risks would be worth it. Would you teach me?'

'I can try.' She repeated and he nodded, his smile was so broad she couldn't help but smile back a little. She didn't feel like she had done such a great thing, but he seemed to be delighted. She liked it when Dumbledore was happy. _I can't believe Dad hated you so completely, I mean aside from the fact that he was semi conservative and you were as far out in the left wing field as one can get. You're so...so much more of a human than so many people I know._

'Now. The serious part of your assignment, for that is what it is. This evening, you will be Apparating from the borders of Hogwarts, to the borders of the Malfoy estate. We have researched all of the known Death Eaters, and it is Lucius who is least likely to physically torment you. I'm sure you know how to act like a stray feline, be untrusting but canny, endearing but reclusive. I need you to be tempting Siana. I know you can manage it.' He said and Siana nodded. _Tonight? That was soon, why so soon? Things must be going a lot faster than I thought._

'Everything is moving quickly, because Voldemort is mobilising his forces.' Dumbledore said, as though agreeing with her silent thought, proving it to be true. 'It seems that with Frederick and Wormtail at his side, his confidence in his own abilities to wreak havoc have been fully reinstated. He is going to start holding weekly meetings with the Death Eaters once more, and last time, a lot of the deaths in the wizarding and muggle world coincided with the commencement of these meetings.'

'You will be attending these meetings, if you can. Any information you gain is valuable. I hope to make things safer for Severus with this method, as you are a lot less likely to be as severely mistreated as he has been.' Dumbledore sighed and then looked down at his own feet. Siana's eyes narrowed shrewdly. _Why old man, I do believe that is a look of guilt._

'How bad was it when he came back last time? I mean, I heard he was...bleeding a lot. That...I'm sorry. I still think you should have let me go.' She whispered and Dumbledore looked at her, assessing her, then he shook his head quickly.

'No. Siana. No guilt. He was very ill, and still is quite sick. I'm not even sure myself exactly what happened, for he won't disclose it. He, as he so often does, merely gave me the information I had asked for, and then retired to his quarters. How are you getting along with him?'

He threatened me with death, refused my body, called me a whore, hates me...

'Fine.' Siana said, forcing cheer into her voice. Dumbledore evidently didn't believe her, but continued to speak.

'You will need to be extraordinarily careful around Draco Malfoy, I don't think you've met him yet. He's the only son of Lucius. He is at the Malfoy estate this weekend, his father wanted him for a family matter. I hazard that it most likely has something to do with being a Deat7h Eater. You must exercise great caution with the son, try not to be alone around him. His father will not deign to hurt you, Lucius, if I remember, has a penchant for the serpent and the feline. He might _test_ you, but that will come in the form of seeing if you can be a familiar. He'll try and get you to participate in a spell. I recommend you cooperate, regardless of the type of spell it is, and confirm his thoughts. We need him to trust you. We need him to want to trust you enough, that he'll take you to the meetings of the Death Eaters on the off chance that you'll be able to help him with one of his curses.' Dumbledore said, his tone grave.

Siana nodded. _Of course, I'm terrified, and Lucius Malfoy scares the living shit out of me, because he was one of the few that got along with Frederick, but I'll do it. It's why I'm here, anything to help. Anything. I mean, I'm useless at the moment otherwise. God. The Insidious is going to run out soon, and I need to find some way to protect myself. I'm so scared._

'I'll do it. You know I'll do it Dumbledore. I don't want to let anyone down. The whole reason I increased my Transfiguration study was so that I could help out.'

'Well. That's a very comforting thing to hear. If only there were more as loyal as you.'

'Loyalty. Basilica. Comes with the territory.' Siana said, shrugging. She smiled to herself. _Loyalty is a strange thing. I think I like it. _'I saw uh, Padfoot and Moony.' Siana said, using their nicknames as they were most familiar. After all, Dumbledore had just mentioned the name Wormtail hadn't he?

'Excellent. I take it you were well received.'

'I think the well receiving was mutual. I didn't realise how much I missed them until I saw them, you know? It's weird. I forget how close we grew to each other when we were growing up. I don't think I'd be very well adjusted, if I hadn't known my animal pals. In fact I think I'd be like Dad. I'm not greatly adjusted as it is, but it could be much worse.' Dumbledore nodded and then shrugged.

'Speculation is only good when you are looking at speculatory theory. I personally am more in favour of living in the present.' His face turned serious again. 'If you are cornered by Draco. _Leave. _' Dumbledore said. 'Draco will just think you're a frightened animal running away, but it will make you safe. I doubt you'll be cornered though. Just as I doubt Lucius will dislike you. Even at Hogwarts he was most devoted to any feline thing.'

Well that's a comfort. Sort of. Okay. So it's not really a comfort. Still. I can do this. Just tell yourself you can do it.

'I have the utmost of faith in you Siana.' Dumbledore said, cutting across her anxious thoughts. 'After all, you have withstood incredible adversity, you have proven your loyalty, and you are a resourceful girl. You might not have the same sorts of latent talents as other people, but you have survived your childhood, you have the efficiency and cunning of the predator whom you can change into.' He said softly and Siana swallowed. There was a pause and for a moment she just took the words in, the meaning of them. No one made a habit of pointing out her strengths. _It's because I don't exactly have many._

'Dumbledore?' Siana whispered softly, looking into the beautiful crystalline blue eyes of the headmaster.

'Yes?'

'I'm really, really glad that I was able to meet you...because Dad described you as a nut-bar. Pretty much. And you might be a bit on the non-conservative side, but you're a really, well.' She paused searching for the right words. 'You're a really exquisite human being. I am honoured to know you. It's...well...really, quite beyond privilege.' _By Artemis Siana, you've truly mastered how to sound like an idiot._

To her great surprise Dumbledore smiled a broad smile, and two tinges of pink appeared on his cheeks. A second later he started to chortle.

'My dear Siana.' He chuckled, placing an affectionate hand on her bent knee. 'How can I possibly form an adequate reply, when all I can do is tell you that I thoroughly reciprocate? Siana it seems we both have the same degree of respect for one another.' He withdrew his hand and shook his head, still laughing quietly to himself, he seemed both immensely pleased and somewhat politely embarrassed. 'Well...I shouldn't stay much longer, I only came down to give you the brief. I'll come back in a few hours time for the Apparition.' He said with a broad smile, and then quietly left the bathroom.

Siana stayed there for another twenty minutes, just pondering all that he had said.

The Malfoy Estate was beautiful in a grim, overbearing and frightening way. It was a castle made of dark grey granite. It had evidently been built during a time of war, because it was blockish, like a fortress. Not much like the artistic structure that was Hogwarts castle. Two of the four towers had fallen into disrepair, and were crumbled monoliths against the night sky. She took in the sight of the forbidding place briefly before changing herself into a cat, and slowly, fearfully, walking directly towards the castle.

There were overgrown vines close to the main entrance of the fortress, they smelled of roses, and Siana looked at them in her feline shape, saw no flowers on the twisted, thorny bushes. Apprehension filled her, it didn't matter if roses weren't really in season, the sight frightened her anyway. She purposely leapt nimbly up the steps. She couldn't hear anything, no voices. She supposed the Malfoy family was sitting down to dinner, or something.

She could not exactly push her way through the main doors and so she followed around on the landing, which seemed to curve all the way around the fortress. She found herself looking at the black spiders and mice curiously. It gave her a little bit of hope to know that other creatures survived here. The mice did not run away from her, they sensed, as animals only can, that she did not mean them harm. Though they smelt tantalising, and Siana couldn't help but relish the scent.

The black cat leapt up on a window sill that had been lit from the inside, and she looked at the room. There was no one in there, it seemed to be some sort of study, filled with books and a heavy desk. She moved in, sleekly, her form rippling with every movement. She was a cat both inside and out, the only thing that could betray her form, were her human thoughts. She sniffed at the room carefully, she could smell a large male scent. That would have to be Lucius Malfoy. Purring slightly to herself she followed the scent out into a hallway which ran down the centre with a green and silver carpet. The pattern was serpentine.

What is it with families decorating according to their heritage? The Basilican Castle had representations of basilisks absolutely everywhere. Malfoys have the serpent. I don't necessarily think it's all that much to be proud of.

She followed the scent upstairs where she started to pick up another scent. _Food. I knew it, they're having dinner. _She meandered her way through the corridors, following her nose, until she heard the beginnings of voices. She was about to launch herself into the kitchen, looking for all the world like a stray, when she felt a rush of wind overhead and heard a clapping noise.

She sunk to her belly and looked up, hissing in shock. A great eagle owl was perching on a cabinet to her right, looking down at her balefully, its eyes glittering as though it was just about to leap on its prey. Siana hissed again as the great owl spread his dappled wings and started to swoop her again. She reared up on her hind legs as he came down and went for him with the claws of her left paw. She missed, and so did he.

Yeah just try it buster. I'm not an ordinary cat.

'Father!' Called a voice and Siana looked around in time to see a boy, who could only be Draco Malfoy. Tall, thin, with a pointed face that bespoke arrogance and a glitter to his pale eyes that unpleasantly echoed the glitter in the eyes of the eagle owl. Siana swallowed as a cat and affected a purr, moving towards the boy, trying to look as endearing as possible. Behind the blonde haired boy emerged the silver haired father, who was looking severely irritated at having been interrupted.

Siana looked at them both and then meowed, a cute, high pitched meow. _Take me in? Go on, you know you want to. I'm a cute cat. See how cute?_

'A cat?' Lucius said thoughtfully. 'A kneazle?' He took out his wand and trained it on her. Siana for a moment thought it would be immensely funny if he just killed her outright. _What a waste of training. _Then she decided a second later that it wouldn't be funny. It was strange the way fear was affecting her. 'Kneazle's don't come to the Malfoy residence unless they've been sent by someone to spy. Tell me cat, have you been sent to spy?'

_Well yeah, but I'll be damned before I act like a kneazle. _Siana thought, _how can you mistake me for a kneazle anyway? It's not like I have a lion's tail or speckled fur or anything. By Artemis, get your facts straight, at least accuse me of being an Animagus first so we can get all of that out of the way._

'Not a kneazle.' Lucius said softly. 'If not a kneazle? What else are you? Would you let me pick you up?' Draco was watching, his eyes bright and eager. Lucius however was moving forwards slowly, his hands outstretched. Siana watched in amazement as she made the pretence of flinching away from him. Like any stray who had been mistreated in the past. Siana could hardly believe that it was so true that a Death Eater would have such a soft spot for cats. However Lucius did not look half as malevolent as his son currently did. She was well aware that Lucius should he have his suspicions would kill her, probably painfully, in a second.

As she felt strong hands wrap around her torso she shuddered a little. It was a strange sensation. She could never get used to being handled this way, it was disconcerting. She never normally let herself be touched, certainly not around her ribs and stomach. Here she was letting herself be cradled in the arms of a Death Eater. A Death Eater who was examining every inch of her with curious eyes.

'She's a black cat then.'

'Father, if you couldn't notice that when you first saw it, then I suggest you wear on your reading glasses all the time.' Draco remarked in a bored voice and Lucius' eyes flashed.

'Finish your dinner Draco, your Mother is waiting for you.' He snapped and Draco, instead of talking back to his Father, moved quickly into the kitchen. Lucius then looked deep into Siana's eyes, searching them. Siana felt the weightlessness of being carried so effortlessly by another and realised that he was tracing the path back into his study.

He closed a heavy door behind him and set Siana on the table, trailing a forefinger from the tip of her nose to her tail tip as he did so. Siana trembled, that was kind of nice, and it made her feel guilty that she appreciated the gesture. She meowed again and Lucius looked at her.

'Well aren't you a beautiful thing. Animagus perhaps?' He whispered softly and then pointed his wand at her. Siana looked at it calmly, showing no fear, after all, she did have nothing to fear. She had unprecedented defences against what he was about to do. When she did feel the warm splashes against her body she pretended to act frightened, like a cat would when it felt sensations that it couldn't explain, but she held onto her form with ease. Lucius eventually stopped and eased a finger under her skin, scratching out a slow and seductive rhythm. Siana started to purr.

Oh yeah, oh yeah. I'm cute.

'I wonder...' He murmured as he picked her up again and cradled her in the crook of his forearm. He pointed his wand at an object in the distance and commanded;

'Incendio!'

Siana felt an odd rush move through her body, not unpleasant, not entirely uncomfortable. More just a warm rush of sensation. An orange warmth seemed to blur in front of her vision and then she realised, as her vision cleared, what she had just done. _Of course, the familiar. I'm a familiar. _The pot plant that Lucius had directed his spell at, was smouldering quietly, sending up white curls of smoke. Lucius was chuckling delightedly.

'Well it seems you are a boon in disguise. Especially with plans that are coming up, I could use a little extra help. Hey? Hmmm?' He said and then suddenly froze as he heard a knock on the door.

'What is it Draco?' He said sharply and the door opened, the blonde boy looked around curiously, when his eyes settled on the black cat he grinned, a gleaming grin. It was malicious, and Siana butted her head against Lucius' arm affectionately. _Please don't give me to him. Please. Dumbledore has been right about you Malfoys so far._

'Have you decided to give it a name?' The boy's tone was so petulant that Siana felt like slapping him, she also hated being called an 'it'. Frederick had made a habit of it, even when she wasn't in animal form. _'Get that thing in here. Tell it that dinner is ready. It needs to clean up the dishes.' _She quelled the dark growl that curdled in her throat just in time. Lucius however chuckled to himself. It was another dangerous noise.

'I was thinking _Crucio!'_

_What? What! _Siana suddenly stiffened as white knives stabbed behind her eyes and she realised what had just happened, the warm rush had returned, only now it was making her uncomfortable, prickling along her skin, and Draco...Draco was screaming on the floor. Being tortured by his own Father, no prelude to the pain, nothing, and Siana was being drained, participating in an illegal, Unforgivable curse. _No no no. _She tried to withdraw her energy, the discomfort starting to burn inside of her, she worried for a second that she might lose her shape and then suddenly the sensation let up, stopped. She was panting.

Lucius yawned, as though what he had done was nothing, Draco was gasping on the floor, looking at his Father with outrage. Lucius said nothing, only stroked Siana self indulgently. Siana felt sick to her stomach and swallowed down two heaves of bile. Her heart suddenly went out to the boy that Dumbledore had warned her against.

Draco hoisted himself up, and then he laughed to himself, slightly. He looked hurt, tired, but something about the situation amused him.

'It's not a very good name Father.' He drawled and Siana found herself thinking about the relationship between Father and son with a measure of shock.

'No you're right.' Lucius was saying, his voice rumbled through Siana's entire body. She heard every nuance, the depth of his smooth voice from her position tucked into the corner of his arm. Quietly, sealing her disguise, she turned her head to lick Lucius affectionately on the hand. His hand stilled and he looked down at her, peered at her with his assessing eyes. They were filled with approval.

'Why we are a dark creature aren't we? You're a beautiful creature. What should I call you? Cassia? Sweet tempered but spicy. You made that so much easier, I wonder if you'd like to become a Death Eater hmmm? It's a shame animals can't be made into Death Eaters.'

'But I can Father.' Draco said softly and Lucius suddenly smiled.

'Yes. I will have cause to be proud of you after all. Now if you'll excuse me Draco, I have some things to do.' Draco left quietly and Siana watched him go, thoughtful. She didn't really care much for the name she had been given. _Cassia, substitute for cinnamon. Still, much better than the actual name cinnamon. Ha. Ha. That could really suck. Oh...that's nice. _She reclined, catlike, as he scratched at the spot where he cheek met her ear. It seemed that she had all the feline nerves, and they were responding exuberantly. A deep purr rippled out of her throat and added to the pleasure, vibrating along the nerve endings in her neck.

She lost track of how much time she spent, being stroked by a very careful Lucius Malfoy. She was almost asleep, her eyes half closed, her purrs lulling her, her claws needing deep into his thigh, spasmodically, Lucius didn't seem to care. She turned her head into his seeking fingers and occasionally paused to lick the salt and dried sweat off his fingertips. Siana was torn between lust, pleasure and guilt. After all, she had never been touched throughout her childhood, not like this. Not in such a simple, affectionate way. Her father hit her, her Uncle did whatever he could do whilst still managing to keep her alive, her brother Nathan did not hug, her mother hated to be touched, and therefore did not touch. Snape had been the first, to touch her, kiss her...

Even James, Remus, Sirius and Peter had not been permitted to hug her. She only did it now, because she decided that was the acceptable thing to do. She didn't like to be touched, and now...now in the hands of a vicious Death Eater, she was finding herself emotionally and physically stimulated in ways she had never been before.

Her purr deepened.

'Well little Cassia, well. You are very, very pleasant. Not a kneazle, not an Animagus, an effective familiar.' He picked her up with one hand and deposited her on the desk. Siana felt disoriented, her skin was hypersensitive, and she missed the rhythmic touch. She stopped herself from swaying towards him, vaguely remembered that she had to go back to Hogwarts, that she couldn't stay in the form of cat for too long, she was enjoying it too much.

She meowed softly and then sauntered to the window, stopping, looking behind her, asking for permission.

'You'd like to wander? Or perhaps relieve yourself?' Siana meowed again and Lucius waved towards the window. 'I'd like for you to return little Cassia, but go out and catch some of the rats that plague this place.' He grinned at her and then turned, dismissing her, taking a book from the bookshelf behind his desk. _Well that was too easy. _Siana thought as she lightly sprang from the window sill, thrilling at her internal suspension system.

As she walked away from the castle, she heard a crunch in the gravel path behind her. She turned quickly, but not quickly enough and found herself picked up by the scruff of her neck, paralysed. The grip was painful and she made a small grunting mew in the back of her throat at it. She was looking into two clear eyes._ Draco. _She hissed, loudly.

'Oh that's good. You keep doing that.' He said and shook Siana abruptly, his fingers curving deeply into her neck, the skin was already starting to bruise, and it was already sore from when Severus had decided to jab her with his wand earlier. She felt as though her back was snapping. The pain startled her for a moment and then she realised that she was being taken somewhere. She jolted with each of his steps and realised that he was taking her somewhere behind the castle, the path lit with magically lit lamps. He was humming to himself, it reminded her sickeningly of Frederick.

She hated everything about this place. Hated the fact that she was in the hands of Draco, and the warnings of Dumbledore kept echoing through her head. She hated the fact that she felt sorry for the blonde haired boy who looked like some sort of twisted angel, who experienced Unforgivable Curses simply because his Father decided that he wanted to test out a whim. She hated the fact that her body was sore, and she was starting to yearn for her human form, or at the very least, the form of a Protectus. She hated that she loved the touch of Lucius, she hated that she knew why.

She yowled this time. Hoping Lucius would hear, would demand Draco to let her go. Instead she felt a flick of pain against her throat and her yowl died on a whimper. Draco had just flicked her throat with all the force his forefinger could. She whimpered again, frightened, but obediently stayed put. _Just let me down. Please just let me down. And I'll run faster than anyone's ever seen me run since the days of Macnair._

Draco didn't set her down, he kept walking until he was a fare distance from the castle, walking to a small dilapidated hen house. Siana could smell hen, it was a delicious smell, but one that frightened her because everything now, in the grasp of Draco Malfoy, became frightening. Draco himself was saying nothing, doing nothing, she could hear his breathing, it was excited, she could feel the sweat in his palms dampening her coat. She hated it.

He opened the creaky door into the henhouse, and walked inside a wire coop, big enough for his height. There were feathers everywhere, from the birds, and other things too, shapes, formless, lifeless. Siana swallowed hard when she swore she saw a cat tail, a skewered mouse. Her mind cast back to a book she had read, a Muggle book, that had been kept in the Archives because her brother had been fascinated by Muggle books. A character, Peter Wiggin, she closed her eyes, blocking out the sights that reminded her of what could happen.

He kept hold of her as he walked past the chickens sleeping in their compartments. Siana looked at them, the flashes of red, brown, gold, green.

She froze.

Green?

_Oh by holy Artemis a Green Rooster! What is this? Cruel fate? I get to see part of what could save me before I'm tortured to death? _Draco was sitting down, gently lowering her, and Siana, so mesmerised by the chicken didn't see what she was being lowered into. She felt a scrape, and blinding pain, and jerked backwards.

He had deliberately lowered her onto a nest of coiled barbed wire. She yowled in fright as the rusty stuff scratched her back leg badly, blood from a cut on her face was already running into her perceptive eyes. _No no! _She twisted violently and scraped herself again, it took her a few seconds of scratching herself on the painful sharp wire before she realised that she wouldn't be hurt if she stayed still. She froze. Draco chuckled.

'Good girl. You learned a lot faster than the last one did.'

Siana whimpered in the back of her throat, it came out as a strange cat noise. It still conveyed the same amount of horror. All she could see around her was barbed wire, spikes of it pushing out towards her, dangerously close. If she threw herself forward, she'd skewer her eyes, if she threw herself backwards, she'd slash her legs open.

Blood dripped from her back paw to the ground slowly. Siana whimpered again and then cried out, it came out as a scared meow. _Oh God, Oh God, Oh God. I'm going to die here. I'm going to die here. I'm going to die here. I'm going to..._

She was being lifted out of the wire. Draco was setting her legs onto the ground and Siana wasted no time in wrenching her body free. With one great spinal muscle spasm she leapt free, her body moving into the air with the force of the twist. She hissed as she landed, all her fur prickling up along her skin. Her eyes narrowed at Draco, her claws unsheathed and Draco, for once, was looking mildly frightened instead of mildly amused. His hand went into his pocket, she assumed for a wand, and she hissed again. At the same time, a thought intruded upon her, a flash.

Green Rooster.

She turned and stalked towards the hens. Purposeful. Perhaps if she didn't act like she was going to run away...

Her leg burned, her head ached, she was tired.

'Cat! Oh...you want the chickens.' Draco said, his voice going from sharp and frightening to curious and pleased. 'If you can catch one, I'll let you play with it for a while.' He purred and Siana blinked. _I just want a feather, please let me get a feather. Please let there be a feather. Then I'm going. I'm going. This isn't worth the risk, it really isn't worth the risk but what else will I do? What else?_

Instead of actually going for the rooster she pawed around at the clumps of feathers beneath their individual roosting areas. As soon as she found a glint of green she uncovered it. Definitely a green rooster feather, nothing beat that brilliant violent green. She lay down on it, pretending to be casually relaxing, and underneath her the feather slowly transfigured into black fur, adding to her body quietly - attaching it just as her robes and wand were - so that when she stood again, no one would be any the wiser.

Draco was walking towards her when she stood again, and his wand was pointed out.

Siana could smell him, he wasn't frightened anymore, he was wildly confident. He probably expected her to run away, and Siana was very tempted. However it was the wrong thing to do, he had prepared for it. She needed to do the opposite. Gritting her teeth in her mouth, letting the bristles of fur on her tongue scrape against her palate, she moved sleekly towards him. She forced her tail to rise straight up, she ground a purr out of her stiff throat.

Draco lowered his wand.

'Masochistic.' Was all he muttered as she slowly walked towards him, holding his gaze. The open door was between his legs. She pretended that her leg wasn't all that sore, that the blood in her eye wasn't irritating her. As he lowered himself to pick her up, her muscles bunched all along her body. With energetic cat propulsion she launched herself forward.

She was sprinting, leaping in bounds out of the hen coop, away from Draco, letting the cover of the night sky and the shadows on the ground hide her black figure. Draco didn't try and curse her, didn't do anything, but she knew that when she came back to the Malfoy Estate, he would pull out all of the stops to get her to himself again. She was devious, she had escaped him, and like Frederick, Malfoy would not forgive her easily for that escape.

_Forget it! It doesn't matter now! _She gasped in the back of her throat, hissed softly, dragged her back leg as she ran as fast as she could to the boundaries of the Estate. _Hogwarts. _She thought._ Hogwarts. Home._

Siana walked back into the grounds of Hogwarts wearily, no one was waiting for her, she had specifically said that she could handle things herself. So now, bleeding and bruised, she found herself wishing for someone to tell her that she was doing the right thing. Instead all she could see heading towards her, was a black silhouette under the black sky. Not Voldemort, no. Not anyone other than one Severus Snape, cradling a tiny, fragile fox in his hands, as though it was the most precious creature in the world.

He stopped when he reached her, and Siana stopped walking, she had been moving so slowly that it had felt like she was going backwards in any case. She had no energy left to move. She just wanted to sleep, for as long as she possibly could. However she couldn't seem to stop herself from wanting to see him, she couldn't forget what she felt for him. It wasn't love, it was just the affection that one felt, for the first person they had ever really viewed as a friend. It struck her as ironic, that Severus was that first person. _Friend._

'Siana you're bleeding.' Severus said stupidly and Siana blinked, her hand rose up to her cheek. When it came away there was a smear of blood on her fingertips, vaguely she remembered that Draco had cut at her with something. What was it again? Wire. That was it, a wire. She was distracted from her own injuries however by the animal that Severus was holding.

'That's rather true isn't it? Why do you have a fox?' She said, looking at the tiny, thin creature. _And how on earth have you managed to survive little vulpine? You're scrawny as hell._

'This is Svelte. You would do well to leave her alone.' He said curtly and Siana's eyes caught his, it was a sharp gaze. She was assessing him, looking at his expression there.

'I wonder if you have the same sadistic streak as young Master Malfoy.' She said cuttingly and noticed his expression change then, from surprise, to guilt, and then to dawning concern. _Concern? No, that can't be it Siana, don't be stupid._

'And how would you know about the sadistic streak of Master Malfoy? Did you happen to instil it into him? I can't imagine it would be hard, the Basilican line seems to have a habit of doing it.'

Oh for the sake of Hephaestus I am not going to put up with this.

'You know what Severus? You can just _Fuck. Off. _' Siana bit out and then turned, stalking away, seething. She heard the footsteps coming up behind her and as she felt his presence behind her she turned around and her foot lashed out viciously, kicking him in the shin. It probably hurt her more than it hurt him, despite the look of pain on his face, because of the leg wound Malfoy had given her. Svelte seemed unharmed, as Severus was still holding her steadily, despite the fact that he was now wincing.

'What? What are you going to do now?' Siana exclaimed angrily. 'Taunt me? Tell me what kind of a monster that I am? Tell me that I'm not half as bad as young Master Malfoy because I'm about _ten times worse! _Is that it? What do you want to say Severus? What the _fuck_ do you want to tell me?' She paused for one second, but his expression remained surprised, and Siana was too enraged to pause for much longer. 'I wasn't kidding Severus, you can fuck off. You're a merciless bastard and the emotion I feel for you at the moment is nothing short of hatred. This isn't some stupid family thing, this is between you, and between me. And if I ever, _ever_ catching you hurting that fox, I am going to hurt you so badly you are going to have no idea what's happening to you. After all I _did_ kill your dear sister Lydia didn't I? Be rest assured that I can kill you.'

_Where the hell did that come from? Lets see if you can take what you dish out. After all, no one gets away with taunting Camille unpunished. _Guilt twisted inside of her and the pain seemed to wash over her like an unexpected shower. It steamed and misted, couldn't be ignored. She winced. _What am I turning into?_

Severus must have seen the pain on her face, for the own rage on his dissipated very slightly.

'Siana...' he said softly and she scowled at him, something snapped inside of her.

_'Miss Basilica. _Isn't it? Good evening.' She said finally and quickly walked back to Hogwarts. The castle seemed to blur around her, and as she slammed the door to her rooms and started to strip down, the anguish took a firm foothold inside her gut. She couldn't be bothered going to report to Dumbledore now, she doubted that he expected it. After all, she was seeing him the next morning wasn't she? Her heart seemed to sink, _it doesn't matter does it? I just do what I'm told. And when I'm not doing that, I'm abusing people, threatening them. I'm just like my Uncle._

She clambered into bed and convulsively pulled the blankets around her. She sniffed against her pillow and tried not to think about the events of the evening which had so scared her. She ached from the little torments of Draco, and her heart ached from the situation she found herself in, her mind ached at the thought that she had to start making the Insidious potion for herself, she had to find a Boggart and New Zealand Mandragora. At least she had the Green Rooster feather.

The pain twisted and twisted inside of her until it finally managed to leak out of her eyes a little.

Siana fell asleep in tears that night, the first time she could ever remember doing so since being free of the Basilican home she had lived in.


	9. Chapter 9

**Spoilers:** PS/SS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA.. Written between Goblet of Fire and Order of Phoenix.   
**Genre:** Action, Angst  
**Era:** Multiple Eras  
**Main Character(s):** None  
**Ship(s):** None  
**Summary:** Siana Basilica has found the first of many answers, and Severus Snape has returned from his encounter with Voldemort. When Siana finds herself back at Hogwarts to continue looking for answers about her strange abilities, and her even stranger wand, she encounters a Snape entirely different to the one she knew before. The Death Eaters and Voldemort are hunting her, and she herself is experiencing unusual symptoms to the one thing that could possibly help her.  
**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Sickness and Svelte**

_Siana, you're bleeding._

Snape groaned in the back of his throat, his arms flung out over the coverlet and he snorted into his silken black pillow. _You idiot, what were you thinking?_ The dead weight curved into the crook of his knee shifted and made a strange chirping noise. It was sleepy. Then the distinct sound of a yawn sounded, high pitched, the dead weight shifted and started trotting up towards Severus' face. He expected licks, he expected strange noises, and when he got none of it, his black eyes were forced to open.

Svelte's tawny eyes were staring at his, her front paws digging into the blankets. Her nose glinted with moisture, she was healthy again. For a moment Severus found himself feeling something at that, the fact that he had helped, had contributed towards her being healthy. His efforts, no one elses, his efforts had made her willing to be a fox again, not a quivering wreck. He half smiled at her and reached out a tired and stiff hand. He ruffled the back of her neck.

His mind however, first thing in the morning, was a death trap. His hand stilled in the soft brilliant fur, fingers running along a raised scar which he could not remove, and the guilt set in. _You did it, you caused this. How does it feel Severus? And why does it make you feel this way? You've killed many people in the past, without a second thought. _

He withdrew his hand, Svelte snapped at him, as though angry he was daring to remove his attentions. Reluctantly he let it sit gently back on her spine. He was awake now, his thoughts racing.

_No. The people you've killed in the past, you didn't have to see again, and again, and again. You just did what he wanted, and left. Of course. Because you lull yourself into a false sense of security, thinking you have power, only to see Voldemort again and realise that you're not only the pawn of Dumbledore, you're the pawn of the Dark Lord. And now..._

His shaken exhale was audible, it bounced off the dungeon walls, made of their forbidding stone. It rebounded back to his ears and he almost recoiled from the sound of it. Svelte snuggled deeper into his fingers, reminding him, constantly reminding him.

_I feel this way, because I couldn't just run home again. It doesn't matter which way I turn, I still manage to be a coward. Of course it hurts now. _His eyebrows knotted in confusion, he wasn't used to this, not to thinking like this at any rate. His thoughts drifted over finding Siana again, and the fact was for a moment he had been concerned.

'Stupid fox.' The words were muffled against pressure of his arm, which was in an awkward position stretched out to Svelte like it was. He knew, that if he hadn't spent so much time with the fox, if he hadn't been carrying her home again back to his quarters, if he hadn't been lost in the feeling of her fur against his sensitive hands, he wouldn't have given a shit about the fact that Siana had been bleeding. That was a fact. He was acting like, like he used to act when he was younger. When he still had Coal, his familiar, and Lydia.

_And now you're showing concern to the one person who ripped your life apart. _

His eyes squeezed shut. Pain roiled through him. He had never really dealt with the grief of losing Lydia. He had thrown himself into dark deeds which did not permit grief. He had always wondered what would happen if he succumbed to it, but the reality was that he didn't think he ever would. His sadness was so overwhelming, so full of darkness now, he doubted that he would ever emerge sane. He was walking a thin line as it was, between madness, darkness, and sanity.

He was so busy thinking about his grief that he didn't even notice the pain in his feet, crawling up his nerves. The pain crawled slowly up, a whisper of hurt, and when it reached his lower spine he stiffened with surprise. He knew what it was, an attack, but they didn't normally start this slowly. He withdrew his hand from Svelte as the murmurings pain continued their slow way up his spine. His last thought was that he needed to start working on the antidote, when without warning the twinges of pain intensified quickly, and then suddenly exploded in several places at once. His back, his neck, his whole spinal cord seemed aflame.

He hit convulsions straight away, horrible, wrenching seizures that stole away his thoughts, his control. The agony was a creature, it seemed to rip through his very soul. It hadn't started as bad as the Cruciatus curse, and now paralleled its force. He could not think enough, but to wish for death, and he was feeling too much, his nerves were hypersensitive. As his hand scraped across the soft quilt he roared in pain, feeling as though rusted blades were being dragged across his skin.

There was noise, a lot of noise. He couldn't tell if it was coming from himself or not. The horrible screams seemed to echo off the walls and bounce back at him relentlessly so that he when he was able to actually use his mind, he found it paralysed with fear. His voice then broke, screamed hoarse, and he was pressing air out of his lungs, wishing for death, wishing for it to all end, wishing that it would just stop.

With a sudden onset of blackness, it did.

Then...

He felt rain, rain all over his face. It was stroking and insistent rain. Lukewarm. The lukewarm rain actually felt a lot like...

'Svelte,' he said, though his voice came out as a strained and broken moan. He rolled away from her questing tongue and cried out as he felt himself free-falling. He connected to the ground with a thud that seemed to roar along his nerves. Severus grit his teeth at the pain, trying to ignore it. There was a light thud next to him, and then the tongue again, licking insistently at the oil on his nose. There was something very urgent and concerned about the pressure. He opened his eyes, and was suddenly aware that they were watering. _Damn. _

'I'm alright,' he whispered, his voice broke twice and he winced at the sound of it. _I don't sound alright._ His arm moved very stiffly, it felt broken, he had to look as he extended it to make sure that it wasn't. _No. It just feels broken, because that's what agony does, it breaks you. Fool._ His hand curried her fur backwards and she stopped licking him, she flopped down beside him, her sinuous form flexing.

'Oh you just want attention. Conniving thing. Smart,' he said softly and then bit back a dry sob as he fought into a sitting position. He picked her up and deposited her in his lap, continuing to stroke her with his left hand, as his right went up to his face and rubbed. He could feel dried saliva and cringed. He rubbed at it some more and decided that he must have been unconscious for some time. The only knowledge that calmed him, was the fact that he didn't have classes.

He let his nerves soothe themselves slowly, and absorbed himself stroking the contours of Svelte's body.

_A Basilica did this to you, a Basilica killed your sister. _He frowned._ Frederick is clearly capable of doing both, he's a Death Eater at heart, but Siana...unless she's very very good at hiding her evil nature, could not possibly be as bad as Frederick, surely. Why was she bleeding last night? I never found out._

_How dare she treat me like that? Does she have no respect? Of course she doesn't, the first thing that she has to learn is that she cannot get away with that kind of behaviour._

However, stroking a na�ve fox made it very difficult for him to hone his well of hatred, and he couldn't think of revenge for too long. He lost himself in the tactile sensation, the contented sighs of Svelte, and the easing pain in his own limbs. He knew that if he didn't find a solution, an antidote, he would die, it was getting worse, and contrary to what most thought, pain of that calibre could kill him. It could quite easily wipe his nerves clean, leaving him as dead to the world as he could possibly be. He needed to work out what Frederick had put into that potion to make its effects worsen over time, and he had to work it out sooner rather than later.

_And a meeting with the Death Eaters...Frederick will get to bask in the glory of his potion making skills. Well, I have some news for you Mr. Basilica, making more of an enemy out of me than I already am, is the most dangerous thing you have ever done. _

_I'm so goddamned hungry. By Artemis what possessed me to skip breakfast? Oh that's right, I was so fucking nauseated because of last night. How smart. How smart to get yourself caught like that. Oh shut up stomach, bloody mutiny, you only want me to eat so you can throw it all up again, want to practise your heaving skills do you?_ Her hand touched her stomach and she scowled at nothing particular as she stalked towards Dumbledore's office for her report. _Yeah, you grumble at me, I can grumble back. Trust me. I can so grumble back._

She hadn't slept all night, not a wink, she couldn't even doze. She had stayed seated at her desk, literally feeling her muscles stiffen, the cut on her face start to infect, the wire had been rusty after all. She could feel her legs start to ache with fatigue. It had been an interesting process. Siana had also ruminated over her pleasant interlude with Lucius, her not so pleasant interlude with Draco, and what could not really be called an interlude at all with Snape.

She smiled. _And I told him to fuck off. Well he deserved it! He damn well deserved it. I'm not putting up with that anymore, I don't have to. I'm actually helping now, I'm actually making a difference. I mean...that is...if I can get those ingredients. One down, two to go. _

She frowned. Her mood abruptly changed. _I don't know though, I mean...well. _Siana swallowed and shook her head to try and clear away the cobwebs lack of sleep had given her. She had been exhausted before she had travelled to the Malfoy Estate, Artemis only knew what she was now. She mumbled a password to the forbidding gargoyle and meandered her way inside. He had said that she could let herself in after all.

Dumbledore, sitting in his office poring over parchments and parchments of Ministry paperwork, only looked up when she cleared her throat. He smiled at her genially, blue eyes twinkling, and then gestured for her to sit down. She wondered how on Earth he could manage to be so cheerful when he suddenly said;

'It's not a smile, it's a grimace, Miss Basilica. If the Ministry would only do me the courtesy of working their own problems out,' he muttered, she realised then that his eyes were twinkling not from good natured cheer, but from being disgruntled. Siana looked over at the official stamps and letterheads, and the writing which was now covered with Dumbledore's loopy scrawl. He was either editing or contributing comments.

'I thought that the Ministry didn't have much to do with you. You're not exactly the kind of conservative they look for are you?' She leaned over his desk, looking at his papers and then after a second looked up, realising she was only a foot away from his head. He was looking at her and smiling, not a grimace this time, but a smile. She was so close to his face that she could smell his breath, which was clean and refreshing. Awkwardly she drew back. 'Sorry,' she added. He shook his head and waved a hand at the parchment dismissingly. They vanished.

_Now see, if I tried that, I'd probably kill myself. _

'Well I'm going to tell you that last night was a veritable hit,' Siana launched in. She looked over at Fawkes as he drew attention by fluttering his bright golden wings. She noticed then the two feathers that she had left behind for him. Her heart twinged but she felt happier then somehow, less tired. Fawkes was looking at her as if to say, _see? I care too. _

'After deciding that I wasn't a Kneazle, testing to see if I was an Animagus and finding out that I wasn't, and finding out that I can actually aid him when he's doing magic, he's decided that he wants to take me to the next meeting. Good huh? So when's the meeting?'

'This evening.'

'Oh,' Siana said softly, this time withdrawing into her chair completely. Her eyes widened. 'How fast are they moving? I only went to see Lucius yesterday,' she whispered and Dumbledore shook his head gravely. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it, and took of his glasses and started polishing them with the sleeve of his robe instead.

'How much do you think Frederick has to do with this?' Siana's soft voice was clearly nervous, her hands started to wring at each other without realising that she was doing it. The fact was, the idea of seeing Frederick again terrified her, he was much better at tormenting her than her father had ever been. He made Snape's torments seem petty and paltry. Frederick was a class A torturer by anyone's standards.

'Since Frederick deviated away from the Archives towards the Death Eaters, there has been a definite increase in their movements. The question is, did he join them after the Archives had been destroyed? Or was he a member beforehand?'

'He would have been a member beforehand,' Siana said bitterly. It made sense now, though he never openly declared allegiance to Voldemort, he did openly express disgust with the Ministry, with Dumbledore, with anything that was even partially connected to the downfall of the Dark Lord. There was also the fact that he never showed either of his forearms, for as long as she could remember, it was frightening to think that he had borne the mark of Voldemort for such a long time.

'Why do the Snapes and Basilicans hate each other so much?' Siana said suddenly, distracted, and Dumbledore's eyes narrowed.

'I don't know if I should be the one to tell you that Siana.'

'Well I don't know who else is going to tell me. It's not like I can ask my family. They _are_ dead,' she said acidly and blanched. _What am I turning into? I've been such a bitch the past few days...it's not like I'm stressed or anything. Ha. Ha. Very funny Siana._ Dumbledore was sighing, replacing his glasses.

'I don't know all the details myself.'

'Well I mean, is there much more? Aside from the fact that Snape made my Mum miscarry, and the fact that I slaughtered his sister?'

'You didn't do that Siana, you weren't responsible for that,' he said softly. Siana grimaced, she withdrew her wand and placed it on the table in front of her.

'Even when I am in full command of my senses, I'm a murderer, or very nearly was.' She was referring to almost killing Severus, and she knew that Dumbledore knew that too. 'It doesn't matter if I have a cure, it doesn't matter if I am cured Dumbledore. I have to take a _potion_ to stop me from killing people. It's artificial, I am artificially no longer a homicidal maniac,' she continued. Her mind drifted back to how she had felt at the tender mercies of Lucius Malfoy, and then how she had felt when her own power had added to the power of his own Cruciatus curse.

'If anything, a potion started it all in the first place Siana. You didn't kill Lydia Snape, you didn't kill Severus Snape, and you, I'm fairly sure, haven't killed anyone since.'

'But I _could_.' Her voice seemed very small amongst the homey warmth of Dumbledore's office.

'Where has this come from? Has Severus been saying anything to you?'

_Has he been saying anything to me? Well that's not exactly the way to put it. He's been threatening me, and treating me like shit, and I've been doing the same to him when I can get enough energy together to do so. You know what? It's so funny, so goddamned funny that I miss the nice Severus, when perhaps the nice Severus wasn't real at all. I miss the way he actually cared, the way he wanted to know about my nightmare, the way he... _

'Time, Siana, that's all you need, and all we have,' he said softly and Siana felt her limbs go cold.

_How easily you say that. Time's running out for me. I need to make that Insidious Potion and _soon.

'So, the meeting is tonight. What do I do?'

'I'll Apparate you back to the Estate. It will just be a matter of showing yourself again and seeing whether or not Lucius will take you. He most likely will, there have been reports in the past of him showing up with animals. It's his downfall as a Death Eater actually, he never used to test them first. He once bought a Kneazle to a meeting.' Dumbledore smiled then and took a bag of humbugs out of his desk drawer. He offered her one, and when she declined, popped on of the black and white candies into his mouth.

'How did you get the cut on your forehead?' he asked around his lolly and Siana winced, raised a tentative finger up to it. She hoped it wasn't really all that noticeable. The cut on her leg was much worse, it had been a deep wound. The back of her neck was covered with black bruises from the punishing grip of Draco Malfoy, and it was a comfort that her hair was long enough to cover them. It hurt to turn her head, it hurt to do a lot of things.

'Trying to get into the castleh' Siana lied. 'I had to push up a window, and it wasn't easy as a cat. It sort of, fell on my head on the way in.'

Dumbledore nodded, but his gaze did not leave hers. It was penetrating and all seeing, and Siana felt as though he was making himself comfortable in her soul. She didn't like the sensation, Frederick had been able to make her feel that way almost constantly, and she was enjoying avoiding that sort of scrutiny.

'Well, forgive me for saying so, but it looks nasty, perhaps you should avoid that window from now on,' he said and Siana licked her lips.

'Trust me when I say I will be avoiding that window from now on.' _Forever if I can. I never want to have anything to do with Draco Malfoy again._

Dumbledore smiled at her, placed the bag of candies back into his desk drawer and then stared down at the parchments, his eyebrows rising into his forehead of silver hair. His shoulders seemed to fall, a silent sigh. 'If it's any consolation Siana,' he said suddenly, looking up. 'What you're doing for us is invaluable. The position you're putting yourself in. I know, I realise that it has its risks, and I am fully aware of the dangers that you place yourself in, every time you visit Lucius, but also know Siana, that no one else can do what you're doing. If you're information can help us, then it can well be the information to rid us of the Voldemort.'

'Way to go...a pep talk!' Siana said and then she swallowed. 'Look. I don't care what happens to me. I mean, well. I do. But I just want to, I don't want to be useless. And I did Transfiguration, you know, worked at it so hard, hoping that what I learnt could not only better the stuffy old Transfiguration followers, but also, people in general. And it's nice to know, that I have something to do with that now, Dumbledore. Really, really. It is. And on that note, I'm going to leave you to it. Because I'm tired, and I didn't sleep very well last night.'

'I'll come down to your rooms to Apparate you out later this evening,' Dumbledore said softly, a kind light in his eyes. Siana nodded as she stood and then grinned as she pushed the chair in.

'Herbology sucks!'

'Yeah but at least Kevin is in the class. You think he's cute! Admit it!'

'Yeah I suppose so. But honestly, all those plants and...I mean, they're plants Kelly, plants!'

Siana froze, the breath left her throat and she stared wide eyed at the two giggling girls that had just walked past her. She licked her lips and then stared at the entrance of the Great Hall, an idea was budding, another one. Without another thought to the dungeons she started walking briskly to the doors, to the greenhouses in fact.

Her feet carried her over the grass which today, was bending in a gentle but crisp breeze. Siana shivered and drew her robes tighter around her and then tried to remember the name of the Herbology professor. _Sprout? Yeah. Good, first name? Um, seed...of some kind. Not like wheat or, no that's a grain. Hang on. Poppy! Poppy Sprout? Gees, no wonder she does Herbology. She smiled to herself. Gotta love those names which are just, so appropriate. What is it about wizards and traditional names? I can talk. Basilica. At least Sprout isn't a derivative of a poisonous, horrible, violent and ultimately Slytherin beast. _

After knocking on the door she waited patiently, Professor Sprout opened the door. Siana remembered her vaguely from the few times that she had eaten in the Great Hall. Her flyaway hair and twig covered hat seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary on this woman. She was wearing dragon hide gloves, and there seemed to be no other noise inside the greenhouse. _Good, then she isn't teaching anyone at the moment. That's good. _

She stood there in silence for a little while, and then thinned her lips. 'I'm, I'm Siana Basilica.'

'I know,' Professor Sprout said, as she moved away from the door and made room for Siana to walk inside. Siana did so, following Professor Sprout to a desk covered with pots and bags of seeds.

'And I was...' She trailed off, _I was what? You idiot._ Professor Sprout was looking at her questioningly and Siana decided that if she didn't launch into the situation now, she'd never launch into the situation.

'Professor Sprout, um, can I please have a look in your greenhouses? Could you please um, give me a tour?' _Well that sounded crap._

'Whatever for child?'

'I'm just...curious, I, oh, this is ridiculous. Here's the deal. I am desperately trying to hunt down a small amount of New Zealand Mandragora for a potion to counter the effects of a pouson. All the vendors, like Zirs, are out of stock...and I am. Very. Desperate.'

Poppy Sprout looked at Siana calculatingly. Her earth brown eyes raked away at what she'd said. Siana realised that this Head of House was much smarter than she let on. _Not just some old witch pottering around in her garden then. _

'New Zealand Mandragora? I've never heard of it being used as an antidote before, but then again I don't know all that much about potions making.' She turned to glare at a plant that had been inching towards her, with leaves the colour of a sea green lake. The plant, eyeless, somehow sensed the murderous gaze and it slid to a stop, crinkling unhappily. When Professor Sprout turned back to Siana, her expression was grim.

'Now...I want to help you. But I also know that New Zealand Mandragora makes a very rare potion made by _your_ family. I know that, because they foolishly tried to raid my greenhouses several years ago. You have a shady past child.'

Siana opened her mouth to plead her case when Professor Sprout smiled tentatively. 'But you're here, helping Albus, and that speaks a great deal for loyalty. You came back, after leaving once, and you didn't have to. You were in a prime position to go back to You Know Who, and you didn't. Not only that, but Albus tells me that you're a genuine child.' Siana bit her lip.

'Even if I would make any poison with it, which I'm not, I don't require enough for full effect. I honestly, well, I'll even sign a contract if you want me to. I'll do anything at all. Please?'

'Stop begging! I'll send you onto Neville in Greenhouse Five. He's in charge of all the plants there, and he'll be able to harvest the amount you want.'

'Why are you trusting me?' Siana said, for she hadn't really expected that candour would work. She was trusting her instincts, throwing caution to the wind. She was fully aware that Professor Sprout was in a position to inadvertently destroy anything, but Siana also knew that she wasn't doing anything evil. _Maybe that's conveying through what I'm saying._ She shifted uncomfortably, her leg still burned with pain from the wire that had cut into her skin. Blessedly she had been able to comb part of her fringe down to obscure the jagged cut.

'Siana, if you wanted that herb for the wrong reasons, then you would have either stolen it, or at the very least pretended that you just wanted to look around. You've been truthful to me, I can tell. I can see you're not scatterbrained, or evil. And...' Professor Sprout blinked and then suddenly clapped Siana heartily on the back. 'Why shouldn't I trust you? Now, get off to greenhouse five? Go on! Before I get jaws here onto you.' Siana started when she saw the crinkly sea green plant that had been advancing on Professor Sprout before, reveal a row of white teeth. She shuddered and then for some reason found herself grasping Sprout's soil covered hand.

'You will _never_ regret this. I promise you,' she said, and left, before Sprout could reply.

'That was _weird_,' she muttered to herself as she marched rapidly over to Neville's greenhouse, and knocked sharply on the door. After the fourth knock, the panelled door open and steam billowed out. The humidity in here was ten times as intense as in the other greenhouse. It was practically raining. Siana looked down to see a clumsy looking boy, with his hair plastered wetly to his head. There was a sheen of the misty humidity over his face, and a splash of dirt on his left cheek.

'You're Neville?'

Immediately the boy looked around a little, nervous. His hand twitched uncertainly and then he nodded.

'You're...You're a Basilica,' he said, his voice quite highly pitched. Siana's eyes narrowed, he hadn't yet invited her inside the greenhouse. She licked her lips, tasted loam in the air, and kept her mouth closed. 'I'm...well. Yes. Siana. Sprout sent me,' she said and the boy ushered her inside nervously, closing the door behind her. Panels rattled.

'I'm...I'm a Longbottom,' he said and Siana's breath exhaled in a hitch._ Oh shit._ The Basilicans hated most that came there way, especially Dumbledores, especially Snapes, especially Longbottoms.

'Well I'd like to think that I'm not like the rest of my family,' Siana said, wondering if that were true. 'I'm just little old me, and Professor Sprout seemed to think I was okay. She seems like a grounded person. Um, you don't have to, you don't have to help me if you don't want. I'll understand Neville. You could...what the..._argh!_' She shrieked as a bush of something leapt at her.

There was a flurry of movement, she vaguely caught sight of a metal pole, heard some shouting, saw the plant get flung away by the prongs of a rake and then held against the ground obviously against its will. Siana, who had reeled backwards against a heavy table gasped, let her vision clear. She saw immediately that it was the snarling New Zealand Mandragora. Alive, it's eyes were bright, and glittered, its teeth were bared, it looked angry, nasty.

'I can tell...' she gasped. 'That it's happy to see me.'

'You've taken it before,' Neville said as he stared down at the plant with wide eyes. 'It doesn't go for people like that. Normally it just looks mean, it's not really. Not really...'

'Yeah. Yeah. Long story. Holy Athena, I thought only sharks and wolves went for the jugular like that.' She rubbed her throat awkwardly, though she had not been injured, and winced as the skin she pushed around caused the back of her neck to ache. 'Gees, now I feel bad saying that I want some of it. I'll probably have nightmares of families of the stuff coming to hunt me down.'

'Maybe, maybe you should just never visit New Zealand.' Neville laughed, still a little jumpy. To Siana's great surprised he deftly lifted the rake and caught the plant, which stilled as soon as he held it. He examined it thoughtfully and then frowned. 'They say, I heard Harry say that you're nice. But I didn't know, whether or not it was true.'

'Oh it's a lie. I'm not really nice. I'm just not an evil person in general. I can be bitchy. Don't get me wrong. You must be pretty damned good at Herbology to have a whole greenhouse to yourself.'

Neville flushed, then he cleared his throat.

'I'd like to be good at, at _something.'_

'You mean you're not good at anything else?' Siana said, raising an eyebrow, Neville nodded. Siana grinned.

'Well finally! Join the club Neville. You and me can start our own new family. The only thing, and I mean the _only_ thing I'm good at, is Transfiguration. I botched History of Magic, got bitten by baby animals in Care of Magical Creatures, and I used to melt cauldrons on a regular basis.'

Neville was looking at her in awe. 'Me...me too. Only, I'm still doing it.'

'Who cares? You're obviously good enough in here to have so much responsibility. Especially with plants like _that_.' She pointed at the Mandragora. 'What do you want to be when you're older?'

'An herbologist.'

'Right. Well you seem to be mostly there already Neville. Nothing to worry about. Just become the best in your field, you'll get the respect you deserve. Trust me.' She watched as his expression went from awe to something close to hope. _I wish I had someone tell me that when I was back in Moreberries. But would I have listened? Probably not, I was probably too fucking drugged to notice that anything else was going on. I was a bit of a lost case really. _

'I. Um. You said you wanted some Mandragora? How much?'

'Two leaves. Shoots if that's possible,' Siana said, calming down a little. She had gotten a little over enthused at the prospect of meeting someone else like her. Someone else who seemed to have been as downtrodden as she was. She felt good that she had maybe at least added a little spark of something to his personality. _See how can I be evil, when...when something like this happens?_

'Two leaves? Okay,' Neville said and then with one hand he held the Mandragora firm, stroking it with a loose little finger, with the other he yanked out two leaves quickly and efficiently. The plant didn't even flinch. He stroked it again affectionately and then placed it in a little dirt pot, placing a lid on top of it. The grass coloured leaves he placed in a paper bag which he sealed with a kind of watery grey goo from a pot nearby.

'What's that?'

'The sap is really poisonous. The diluted Bubotuber pus stops any of the sap or gases from coming out of the bag until you need it. Here.' He handed the bag to her. 'Don't touch the leaves with anything less than dragon hide gloves. Do you need a pair?' he said, looking at the bag as he held it to her. It was evident that he didn't making eye contact. Siana frowned.

'I hadn't thought of that.'

'Well I have, I have another spare pair. My Gran gave them to me, she, uh...was a little excited when I told her that I was being allowed to look after one of the greenhouses.' He turned and walked off behind a strange plant that looked like masses of spider web clinging together, and then came back again with some scaled gloves. He handed the burnt red scales to her also. 'I don't need them right now, I've never damaged the pair that I've got. You know the fumes are poisonous too don't you?'

Siana nodded and Neville nodded too, a look of concentration coming over his face. He seemed to gain a quiet confidence when he was talking or thinking about anything to do with Herbology Siana recognised the confidence, it was the same inner confidence she had with Transfiguration. Beyond Transfiguration she might be useless, despairing, but within Transfiguration she had strengths upon strengths.

'There's nothing else you need to do. If you get poisoning you'll have to go to Madam Pomfrey. She has some antidote there, okay?' Neville said and Siana nodded. _From memory, Snape has it too, but he's a bastard at the moment, and I'll be damned before I go to him for anything. _She clutched the bag tight in her hands and found herself repressing a small bud of hope that was growing on her gut. After all, now she only had one more ingredient left to acquire. However, she wasn't stupid, the last ingredient would be the hardest.

'Neville, thank you so much. Really. Keep up the good work. I expect to see you in the papers soon!' she said and turned quickly, desperate to get out of the humidity that was soaking her brittle hair and aggravating her leg wound. She heard Neville mumble something behind her along the lines of 'thanks' and she nodded, then closed the door gently behind her.

_Now, to Hagrid's hut. Might as well get all the visiting over and done with today, besides, Hagrid, I can ask him about Boggarts. He might know where one is. If he doesn't know, I might ask Moony, he has this uncanny ability at being able to find things like that. _

When Hagrid opened the door, he looked around quickly and then his face split with a very broad smile. 'Siana! Yeh've come to visit me!' He closed the door behind her and then immediately took a large kettle from the fireplace. It seemed he had already been making himself a cup of tea. Siana looked around as he made himself busy, and her nostrils instinctively widened. She could smell animals, dog, fox...she was about to see what was specifically in the air by enhancing her scent cells through fox form when she felt a large weight leaning into her leg.

'Oh hello there...' she crooned, grinning, as Fang licked big wet streaks across a part of her leg which had been bared through her robe. She shivered and scratched the crinkly head affectionately. 'You sooky thing. Aren't you a sooky thing? Hey beautiful, hey there...' Her voice was immediately soothing, very sweet. She loved all animals, and had never raised her hand to even kill a spider. Fang the boarhound was practically wriggling from the attention. The hairs on her leg were standing up the wrong way from the force of which he licked them.

'First Professor Snape, and now you,' Hagrid said as he set down a large steaming mug of tea for her, and then took his own to the other side of the large table. 'I've bin' gettin' a lot of visitors of late.'

'Snape?' Siana's eyes narrowed. She couldn't imagine Snape being comfortable in a place like this. It was unruly, it smelt of animals and food, it was homely and warm. Not the sort of place that Siana associated with the Potions Master at all.

'Well it's not like he wanted to see me. He on'y came outta punishment. Yours is your choice.'

'Excuse me? He didn't want to see you? Then why would he be seeing you?' She remembered the direction that he had been walking last night, towards Hogwarts, but from what could easily have been Hagrid's hut. Did it have something to do with the fox?

'Uh, well the thing is...' Hagrid broke off and then sighed. 'I really shouldn' be tellin' yeh this.'

'Please Hagrid.' Her voice was soft, but urgent. Anything that involved the Potions Master she took so personally. She didn't understand why, she wouldn't have cared if it was anyone else.

'He has this fox, right? And he's good with 'er now, but before...he sorta' accidentally left the fox with 'er, um, a Slytherin kid who was a bit violent.'

_'WHAT!' _

'No. No no. Siana, e's good with 'er now.' Hagrid said, pushing aside his mug of tea and leaning forward, his face marked with sincerity. Siana sighed as she relaxed a little. _He's good with her now._ Then suddenly a bolt of apprehension shot through her and she sat upright. Fang whimpered.

'Which kid, Hagrid.'

'Now, I shouldn' be sayin.' He looked very uncomfortably now and Siana snapped under the pressure of her own dread.

'Which kid! It was Draco wasn't it? The fucking _bastard_ left a fox in the hands of Draco Malfoy!' She was breathing heavily, her hands clenching in her lap. Hagrid squirmed, he looked nervous.

'Miss Basilica, I-'

_'I'll kill him!_ I'll have his blood for dinner!' she seethed, getting out of control. Her hands went to her wand pocket.

_'Siana!_' Hagrid shouted suddenly, thumping his fist on the table. Siana jerked, startled, her hands flew up, away. She blinked a few times and then licked her lips.

'Yes Hagrid?'

'Siana, he's good with 'er now. Came ev'ry hour, was angry wi me for...for not lookin after 'er right.' He reclined back, thinking that he had her convinced. How wrong he was.

'Oh. OH. He had the gall to be angry at you? And Dumbledore is letting him keep it!'

'Now Miss Basilica, I _trust_ Dumbledore, 'e made the right decision.' Hagrid's voice was filled with a quiet steel, and for a moment Siana remembered what her Dad had said, about him being part Giant. She shifted her legs under the desk to ease her posture, and winced as the cut on her thigh got caught on her robes. The irritation, the pain, knowing that Draco had done this to her, done something like this to the poor fox that Snape possessed, made her angry all over again.

'I don't believe this. Contrary to popular opinion, Dumbledore is just a man. He's not infallible!'

'I'd like to know what someone like yerself would have done then.'

'Killed him,' Siana muttered darkly and she got the gripped the bag of Mandragora so hard that it made a mushy sound against her fingers.

'E's not a bad person Siana. E's just messed up from his trip to You Know Who. I would be too if it was me.'

'You don't let a messed up person near an animal.'

'No offence, Siana, but yeh don' exactly have a clean slate to yerself do yeh? Yeh've been irrational too, from what I've seen of yeh. How'd you like it if you was banned from animals?' He paused, and Siana swallowed, it was true. How would she have liked it, if she couldn't have seen Athena whilst she was under full effect of the Insidious Potion? Athena kept her as sane as she could ever have hoped to be at the time. 'Animals don' deserve a lot of the crap they get, but they're forgivin'. Most of 'em. They see a persons true natures, an' foxes, they're canny like. If Svelte likes Professor Snape after all this time then it's fer a reason. An' he does love her in his own way, 'e cares. E's a much nicer person when he actually cares about summat other than cauldrons.'

Siana sighed. 'You're too nice. You know that? Much, much too nice. No wonder. Our family used to think it was funny, a half giant at Hogwarts. Like, 'what a crackpot that Dumbledore is...' But my family, we're fools, Hagrid. All of us. Me definitely. You're a lovely person.' She shook her head and then lowered it weakly onto the table, missing Hagrid's flush of red. She choked off a moan of pain as the skin on the back of her neck stretched out and the bruises screamed in soreness. When she raised her hand again, Hagrid was draining the last of his cup.

'Actually I have a quick question to ask you, Hagrid.'

'Fire away,' Hagrid said softly, his dark eyes kind.

'I need, for a project, I need...well. Do you know of any Boggarts around Hogwarts?'

'Boggarts? What do you want to be messin' around with them for? They're 'orrible things those. And no, no I don't sorry, best person ter ask would be Argus Filch, the caretaker. He'd be the one most likely to come across any Boggarts in his day to day cleanings,' Hagrid said softly and Siana nodded. _Great._ She thought._ Filch. Someone with a genial a temper as Severus. Sure. _

'Okay. Thanks anyway.'

_And now my teeth are sore. I have another thing to add to my many list of misfortunes. Cut on my fucking head, cut on my leg, bruised neck, generally bruised, generally. Now my teeth are sore. Rock cake. Sure Hagrid, I'll have some rock cake. Never again. Never, ever, ever again. Not ever. No way in hell. I'm not ever going to be that stupid again. I think I actually chipped out two of my molars. _

_Ah hah, you're so funny. Funny...hee. Not. God. What's wrong with you? Artemis would be watching you right now and, I don't know, hunting you with her hounds. You said you were going to be running around in the Forbidden Forest as a fox, and are you? No. Why? Because you're sore, and you have to go back to the royally fucked up Malfoy Estate. And I need to find a Boggart. And...I don't know. Damn being a Basilica, damn everything right now. Damn the fact that my teeth hurt. _

_Stupid Death Eater meeting, tonight? What if something goes wrong? What if Draco gets me again? What if I -_

She froze, she didn't even realise why she froze until the scent came again, stronger. Sandalwood and pepper. Her knees felt weak, she realised that was the scent of Severus. Surprised she looked around and noticed she was in the corridor which her and his quarters were situated. She hadn't realised that she had been walking so fast.

He flung himself out of his rooms and marched down the corridor so quickly that he didn't see Siana until he was almost on top of her. There was a look of urgency about his face. When he stopped, it took him a few seconds to calm down a little. Though he only calmed down enough to glare at Siana and then point at her bag.

'What's your poison?' he said silkily and Siana felt fire kindly immediately._ Taunt me. That's exactly what I want right now. To be taunted...I know what you've done. I know exactly what you've done._ She was about to open her mouth and retort when his hand shot out, claw like, and gripped her forearm hard. 'May I look?' he whispered softly, seductively, cruelly forcing the arm up so that he could see the bag more closely. Its seal of diluted Bubotuber pus was evident. 'So it _is_ a poison then.'

'Maybe I'm going to sneak it into your highbrow cup of tea this evening,' she whispered sweetly and Severus' eyes narrowed.

'Then it is a good thing that I am going to be indisposed this evening. I'm keeping an eye on you Siana.'

'Did I not clearly tell you to _fuck off_ last night? I don't need all your accusations,' she said, yanking her arm away from his grip. 'I don't need someone like _you_, pointing out my mistakes.'

'My, my, my. Dirty language again? I must be having quite the effect on you.'

'You hypocrite,' Siana began and then found herself pausing when she saw a tiny fox, a tiny kit of a fox peek out from behind the door which Severus hadn't even remembered to close. It squeaked pitifully and Siana bit her lip. She looked at Snape. Disbelief crossed her features when she saw a look of concern scramble across his face, desperately trying to escape the look of impatience which replaced it next. He turned.

'Svelte, inside please,' he said crisply and the fox remained still. It chirped again, but made no sign of either moving forward, or backwards.

'I'm going to tell you a story,' Siana began, not even realising what she was saying. Severus appeared to be ignoring her so far, his attention fully trained on the baby fox. 'Once upon a time there was a boy named Draco Malfoy, who liked to torture animals.' Severus snapped around back to her, his eyes wide, his face suddenly pale. She continued cruelly.

'Draco Malfoy liked to torture anything, he was part of a biiiig family that liked torture and pain, so it made sense that he was a part of that too. Heritage, or something. And you know? There was this big, ugly, horrible, mean, sarcastic and irrational beast of a man, which had for some reason, managed to acquire the trust of a tiny little creature called Svelte.'

_'Siana_...' Severus said warningly and Siana smiled at him, there was no emotion in that smile.

'This ugly, mean, irrational man one day lost his temper. He did so very often you see. And he gave the innocent, beautiful, young and na�ve creature to Draco Malfoy, the boy who would torture _any_ animal, given the opportunity. The big, ugly man knew this, and didn't care. He was probably happy. No responsibility. Time to take a break from caring about something alive other than myself...because Hephaestus knows that I don't believe in full time care. So...of course, as we all know, the fox is tortured. There is no rescue for this fox, no one comes to her aid, no one saves her from the torment. No one at all. And do you want to hear the end of this story? The big, ugly, horrible man, gets to keep the fox. Gets to keep it, gets a second chance, so that he can make the same mistake again.'

'Do you want me to tell _you_ a story about the death of my sister and the horrible, nasty girl who was involved with that?' Snape whispered and Siana grinned.

'Go ahead! Only I can save you the bother. I murdered your sister. My hands, my wand...my own magical power. Think about that. I did it.' _I'm bullshitting, I don't remember doing it. But hey, let's throw caution to the winds._ 'And you know what? The funny thing about that is I don't pretend that there was something right to what I've done. I _know_ I did the wrong thing, and I'm never planning on doing anything like that again! But you! I can't talk for you. What kind of a person are you Severus? How the fuck did you manage to land a teaching position here when you're so damned disturbed?' She took a deep breath and then launched into the tirade which she had been wanting to launch into since meeting with Hagrid.

'Not only the same sadistic attitude as Draco, but a fucking cop out attitude too. Can't do it yourself, so you'll get someone else to. Contracting a torturer does not make you any less of a torturer!'

'Svelte!' Severus said, his voice snapped through the air. The fox crawled back inside and Siana watched, felt as though her heart was breaking.

'You might think you've repented, but what happens the next time you lose your temper? What happens then? Just do it yourself? Get someone else to do it for you? What kind of a person are you?' She withdrew her wand and pointed it at him. 'If you ever, _ever_, have anything to do with the pain of an animal again, I will personally ki-'

_'No,'_ he bit out, but he wasn't looking at her, he was looking through her. Siana blinked, caught up in her rage.

'No? I bet you didn't give Svelte that option, you bastard. I'll bet-'

'_Not now._' It was a begging groan, it pleaded with some unseen force and then before Siana knew what was happening, he collapsed to the floor, convulsing violently. She dropped her wand anxiously and then took a few steps forward, not knowing what she intended to do. It didn't occur to her to go for help, she was mesmerised by the wrenching spasms. When he roared in pain she flinched, winced. Her breathing sped up, she was afraid.

However long she stood there, not knowing what to do, not knowing if she should leave him unprotected, she didn't know, but it seemed like a long time before the convulsions lessened and he curled up like a child against the wall. She could see his shivers in the ends of his robes, causing the fabric to shudder. More minutes passed, long minutes, her breathing and his breathing staccato, mingled together in the still air of the dungeons. Slowly, so slowly, he turned to face her, his face ivory.

_'Please leave,'_ he whispered, his voice broke three times, trailed off into pathetic silence. Siana bent down to pick up her wand and watched him, blinking, frightened. His eyes, blacker than the shadows around the dungeon, watched her desperately and Siana backed off a few steps, automatically pocketing her wand. She wanted to say something soothing, she wanted to damn the hatred like she had what felt like so long ago, and say something to show that she cared.

A wave of bitterness streaked through her. How could she ever hope to salvage some semblance of a friendship, a relationship, of _anything?_ How could she?

'I hope it hurts,' she muttered, then stalked off to her room once more, hiding the tears that prickled at her eyes. _The second time in two days I've been in tears. It must be a record. Be proud of yourself Severus, no one does this to me like you do. No one. _


	10. Chapter 10

**Spoilers:** PS/SS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA.. Written between Goblet of Fire and Order of Phoenix.   
**Genre:** Action, Angst  
**Era:** Multiple Eras  
**Main Character(s):** None  
**Ship(s):** None  
**Summary:** Siana Basilica has found the first of many answers, and Severus Snape has returned from his encounter with Voldemort. When Siana finds herself back at Hogwarts to continue looking for answers about her strange abilities, and her even stranger wand, she encounters a Snape entirely different to the one she knew before. The Death Eaters and Voldemort are hunting her, and she herself is experiencing unusual symptoms to the one thing that could possibly help her.  
**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**One of Us. **

The floor was cold. It was actually very cold. Siana sighed shakily and a wry smile painted itself on her face. Her knuckles whitened as she levered herself off the slabbed ground. She brushed dirt off her black robes and then vaulted onto her bed, trying to get rid of her excess energy.

'Right,' she muttered to herself. She was never trying self-defense again. One kick had landed her on the floor. She hadn't contacted anything, just flung her leg out, lost her balance, and introduced her posterior to stone. Not that she ever really was good at physical fighting, after all...she was a coward at the best of times. Siana had surprised herself at her own strength thus far, in seeing Draco and Lucius. The reality of what she was doing was starting to affect her, and every time she looked at her reflection in a mirror all she saw was wide and frightened eyes. _And bad skin, fuck it, stress always does this to me. Dry hair and bad skin._ She sighed explosively and sprawled out on the bed. With a flick of her hand and a small amount of concentration on her part, she was suddenly the great Protectus, largest species of fox to ever exist.

_Vulpes russeo protectus._ Her paws stretched out, the deep red of her fur a stark contrast to the black of the sheets and the dim grey of the chambers that she was staying within. Her black mane of hair which started from between her eyes and made it's way well past her shoulder blades, stood up like a punk haircut. She didn't care. The Protectus was only beautiful to some, and she hadn't selected the creature for looks anyway. She had deliberately selected her first Animagus to possess more courage and cunning than she did, so that she could learn a little bit of self protection.

However most of it didn't carry through to her human form, so at times when she was frightened or hurt, the form of Protectus beckoned. She yawned, her pink tongue flecking out over her teeth and her eyes closed sleepily. The fox in her was obviously demanding a rest, and who was she to deny it? She took a deep breath and sighed into sleep.

She was coaxed out of her doze by the presence of someone near her. She opened her eyes. Albus Dumbledore was standing nearby, looking into the cold fireplace, humming a very faint tune. Siana recognised it as a lullaby her mother used to sing to Camille. She felt a faint stab of pain, every now and then the grief that she had never succumbed to washed over her...she missed her mother, Camille, Nathan. Even Nathan's dog...and of course Athena. She dreamt of Athena sometimes, panicking in the chambers of Madam Pince, tortured by Macnair. She didn't ever want to own an animal again, they always seemed to meet unhappy endings.

She was in human form, sleep always did that to her. The fact was, she did feel more comfortable in the form of Protectus, but the shape couldn't be maintained if she had dreams in which she was a human.

She could sense night around her, though she could not see it, and was reminded of her impending task. Fear surged through her. She sat abruptly. Dumbledore turned.

'How was your sleep, Siana?'

'Uh...I slept. That's the main thing, isn't it? So! Meeting tonight huh?' Though there was no quaver in her voice, she could definitely hear her fear. She licked her lips and realised anxiously, by the bitter taste, that she'd forgotten to have dinner; and that she had thrown up everything else from last night. Despite hunger, she doubted whether eating before such a meeting would be such a good idea. Dumbledore was looking back at the cold fireplace again, a grim expression on his old face.

'We must make haste, Siana. Do you need to take anything with you?'

'No. No. I...' She tapped her thigh pocket. 'I have my wand.' As she looked around her sparse quarters she saw the small chest of drawers in which she had hidden her green rooster feather and the mashed New Zealand Mandragora. _I hate hiding things, I hate it. The things I do to make sure I'm safe around other people..._

'Let's go.'

Siana didn't really remember how the walk from her room to the outer grounds had happened, she only knew that she and Dumbledore didn't speak. The fear grew inside her, gave her goosebumps, made her hair stand on end. Blurred pictures of Frederick kept tainting her and any minute she imagined herself throwing up bile, or going into shock. She didn't want to see him. The terror she had of Frederick was more intense than her fear of Voldemort. The fact was, she knew Frederick, and what he was capable of, where she had never met Voldemort, and so she didn't know what to fear.

_I'm so scared. I hate this. _

'Good evening,' purred a dark silky voice from the depth of the shadows. Siana jumped, she hadn't seen anyone approaching, but Severus must have been walking up behind them. He was looking oddly neutral, his expression blank, his eyes fixed on Dumbledore's. He didn't even give her a cursory glance. 

'Where are you going?' Siana said, fully aware that he was going to a meeting with the Death Eaters, she just wanted to see how he reacted to such a pointed question. Not at all to her surprise, he glared at her, then affected a look of indifference. His arms were tense though, as though he couldn't quite relax into what he was about to do. _Neither can I for that matter. _

'No where in particular. Where are you going?' Siana grinned.

'Oh. No where in particular,' she said breezily and Severus' eyes narrowed and then he turned to Dumbledore, ignoring her easily.

'Headmaster, if her sadistic intent doesn't kill you then her imbecilic and intrusive nature certainly will. Good day,' he said crisply and sped off, so that he was several meters in front. Siana glared at him, then clenched her hands involuntarily. _What the? _

'I'll kill him, I'll kill him...I'll...'

'You know Siana, following through on those homicidal urges has never solved anyone's problems,' Dumbledore said softly and Siana scoffed.

'Yeah? Well, it would sure put a dent in _mine_,' Siana sniped in the back of her throat as she glared daggers at Snape's back, and to her surprise Dumbledore laughed. She smiled wryly and then settled into uncomfortable silence. The weight of what she was about to do felt like one of the towers of Hogwarts was crushing her into the ground. _Why do I think I can do this? Why do I? I'm not a strong person, I run away from things. I should probably be running away now. _

She could hear her breathing now, and she could also no longer see Severus, he had once more disappeared into the shadows. She didn't know how, or why, but for some reason having him around had comforted her. Now that he too was gone, dread trebled, anxiety rattled deeply. She started wringing her hands in front of her stomach, she stumbled a few steps. The closer she came to the bronze winged boars and the boundaries of Hogwarts, the more she felt she was walking straight, voluntarily, into a horrific nightmare.

The second time she stumbled in the silence, Dumbledore's hand reached out to her shoulder to steady her, and she swallowed a whimper.

'I can't do this,' she whispered, straightening. _I have never hated myself more than I do right now. _

'I can't be a hero, I can't be a hero, please. Please don't make me do this, I'm not like Harry Potter, I'm not like any of you. I don't want to see him again. I don't...' She trailed off, hating her pitiful voice. She stared back at Hogwarts, stared into the dark beyond the winged boars. Cold crept around her body, into her bones, ice seemed to freeze around her. _All in my head. You coward. _Dumbledore was looking at her as though he was thinking fast. She could not see pity, but there was definitely some kind of sadness in his eyes that she couldn't pick. 

'Siana, no one is asking you to be a hero.'

'Just don't make me see him again, _please,_' Siana begged, and her voice cracked. She swallowed desperately and then bit her lower lip. 'Please, Dumbledore, please.' She wanted to tear away her eyes from his blue ones, wanted to claw into herself. She hated her angst, she hated her fear, she hated everything right now.

'He won't know that it's you. No one knows about your talent...no one can break through your talent,' he said quietly into the still night air. 'I cannot, and I severely doubt that someone like your Uncle could either.' He lowered his voice further, his eyes were like stars in a dark night sky. 'You can't expect miracles of yourself, but you also must anticipate the situation. He will not know. There is no conceivable way he could pick you from the crowd, unless you changed, and I severely doubt you will let enough control slip to do that.' 

'I doubt it too,' Siana said and Dumbledore smiled softly. 

'See? Your fears are founded in fact, but they are made worse by another fact. You are your own worst enemy, Siana. No. That's not exactly what I mean.' He took off his spectacles and cleaned them absently. 'You definitely have enemies, but fear disagrees with control, it does not make you stronger. You are resourceful and bright, and you should leave most of your fear at Hogwarts so that you can at the very least, revel in it when you return here. Just keep enough of it to make you alert, otherwise just leave the rest of it here.'

'Um. Yeah,' Siana said softly. She didn't feel much better, she only felt foolish, stupid, frightened. She didn't feel like begging anymore either. 'Can I just get this over and done with?'

'Certainly,' he said, and raised his wand to Apparate her out of the grounds.

An hour later she was snuggled against Lucius, listening to his beating heart, her feline senses alert. She could smell his aftershave, a little musk, and the mint he had chewed after his dinner. She could smell Draco on him, Narcissa, and fear. He was frightened too. It seemed that everyone went to a Death Eater meeting either frightened, or so powerful, fear no longer mattered.

There were only twenty robed shapes, most of which were wearing masks. Only five weren't. Lucius was among them, as was Snape, who she picked out talking to a short masked man with a high pitched voice. The trees framed them, but they obviously weren't incredibly concerned about being found out. After all the forest they were now in, Siana had never heard of before. The trees themselves, bending pines, swayed in the wind so much it would have been hard for a human on the night of a dark moon, to decipher between man and leaf.

She smelt Frederick before she saw him. A strange combination of storms, roast beef and something new, was it rosemary? She wondered vaguely where he was living now, if it had rosemary bushes. Then she saw him, the cheerful expression, the violet eyes. He was laughing with a man in a mask, looking lazy, laid-back. He looked like this was a dream come true, like it was exactly where he wanted to be.

Everyone here smelt human...she couldn't pick up anything too supernatural. Wherever Voldemort was, he wasn't here.

Lucius was taking her over to Severus, and she snuggled closer to the Malfoy. After all, Severus hadn't seen her as a cat yet, and she felt naked, even though she knew he wouldn't recognise her. She still couldn't help but wonder.

'Good evening,' Severus said shortly to Lucius, turning away from the short and masked man. From where Siana was being held, she could see Frederick turn to look at them and experienced a shock in her gut. Just the eye contact alone made her shudder. She blinked several times and realised that he hadn't recognised her, he couldn't recognise her. Without saying anything he turned back to the person he was pointing to, and directed them to a table covered with tiny clear vials glinting red.

Siana squeaked in surprise. _Oh by Artemis! Look how much Insidious potion they've got! Oh gods! _There would have been over forty bottles, each needing to be carefully made, each made with rare ingredients. Siana gnashed her teeth together and then heard a 'tsk-ing' sound from nearby.

'A cat?' Severus heard himself saying with disgust and Lucius started stroking the creature. It in return focussed its attention back on its owner, and started to purr loudly, luxuriously. It's pale yellow eyes fixed on Severus insolently, and then the cat turned again and presented it's stomach to Lucius Malfoy. _Something that no one should ever do. _

'It was a stray, it's been checked for Transfiguration. She's beautiful isn't she? She can carry out orders, she's a smart thing, though I don't think she's part Kneazle. There's nothing better than having a black cat to fulfill ones wishes.' Severus said nothing. He had seen Frederick look at him a moment ago and wondered what would be in store for him tonight. He dreaded to think.

At that moment, with impeccable timing, Severus felt bile rise up his throat as he sensed Frederick come up behind him. A hand, open, touched his lower back and then curved down over his buttocks, displaying familiarity. Lucius turned away, obviously showing deference, Frederick took the opportunity to press his body alongside the potion master's. No one else could see or interpret the action well, it was too dark, but the action wasn't designed for everyone else, it was designed so that Severus knew who he answered to.

'Have you gotten any closer in bringing her?' the man whispered into his ear, and there was a horrible smile in his voice which Severus wanted dearly to wipe off with a few well chosen words. A few well chosen words and a wand.

'Soon,' he said softly, hiding a tremor in his voice. He was steeling himself against doing something stupid, like turning around and beating Frederick into a bloody pulp in front of the rest of the Death Eaters. _Because, old man, that would go down extremely well. You already hold a precarious position on this knife edge. _

'Soon is good. I might even be nice to you this time Sevvie. Would you like that?' His breath curled around the ear of the Potion Master and this time Severus definitely had to swallow bile down. He jerked as though to move away and suddenly felt a wand tip poke into his lower back. 'Anyone would think that you didn't like my company,' Frederick grated. He chuckled and then shifted his hand, deliberately becoming more familiar, moving lower still. Severus grit his teeth and imagined what Frederick would look like impaled on about thirteen vertical spikes. 'Stay here a moment longer will you? I'm having fun. You know I wait for these moments.' His chuckle epitomised insanity. The wand tip was ruthless against his lower back.

'Now...I always forget, why are you here?' Frederick said joyfully, this time curving his hand under Severus' buttocks and becoming so familiar that the potions master flinched away even though he knew he should remain impassive. The wand tip pressed so hard pain started to radiate up his spine. He took a deep breath as Frederick licked his lips with a smack.

'How could you ever hope to be one of us? Working for a man like Albus has made you soft, old man, not to mention disgustingly unhygienic, when was the last time you washed your hair? You know? Don't answer that question, I don't want to know Sevvie boy. Don't want to know at all. You know? Even a pathetic little messenger God like Hermes wouldn't go out of his way to give you a good kick up the rear. Fortunately...I'm a caring person...' Frederick crooned and Severus blanched as the too familiar hand. No one could see, and Severus would be reprimanded for showing any signs of weakness. It was obvious that Frederick was getting along very well with Voldemort (as well as anyone could), and to disagree with the Basilican, would almost be as direct as openly slandering Voldemort.

'Where's the Dark Lord?' Severus managed softly and Frederick chuckled, he deliberately pushed his head forward for that, so that every short exhale would gutter against Snape's clammy neck. He shuddered, braced himself, and Frederick noticing, squeezed even harder. Pain was now spreading throughout his lower torso, he was fighting off a cringe, and The wand at the base of his spine was brutal, unforgiving. He felt that if he went into convulsions now, it would be almost comical.

'The Dark Lord, as you so tastefully put it, Snape, is indisposed.'

'Surely _you're_ not in control?' He hissed and several of the Death Eaters who were still in their masks, turned to him sharply. Even Lucius, holding Cassia tenderly, turned and stared with wide eyes at Severus for what he had said. His gaze was clearly disagreeable and Severus swallowed twice in quick succession. _Why shouldn't I be rebelling? This is the first time this has happened, I have every right to know what's going on. _

'Of course he's not Severus...' Lucius said lazily, forcing a smile upon his lips. 'The Dark Lord is very busy of late, understandably, working so hard as he is. Frederick here knows enough about the contents of this meeting to handle it. It's only a small group of us, things aren't about to get out of hand.'

'Only because there's no...' he stopped himself. _International Quidditch Match _he had been about to say, but that would have been a big mistake. 'Only because there's no innocent people to slaughter,' he finished smoothly and blessedly, Frederick chose that moment to remove the hand, wand, and his presence in general away from Severus.

'I think we'll call order now. Lucius, is that a Kneazle.? I've heard stories...'

'I've tested it. Would you like to check it?' 

'Would I like to...are you kidding? You think I don't trust you? Of course I trust your judgement. You tried a Revealing spell?' 

'Yes. Give me some more credit than that Frederick, please.' 

'Hold the damned thing up?' He raised his wand. The cat was limp in Lucius' hands, its forelegs and backlegs dangling, eyes roving around the party. It was small, it seemed to disappear into the shadows it was so black, but its bright yellow eyes were perceptive. It reminded him for a moment of Svelte and he shuddered. He'd left her alone back at Hogwarts, there was no way he'd bring a creature like Svelte to a meeting like this.

Frederick shouted several spells in quick succession, they landed square on the black cat, who squirmed a little but otherwise made no complaint. The red glow from the spells died and Frederick lowered his wand.

'Keep her here. I don't care. Now. Meeting underway. This is a brief meeting with an extremely select group of members. No offence to those who wanted to bring friends, it isn't about that tonight, and I personally apologise Lucius about Draco. He's just too young at the moment.'

'As long as I wasn't excluded, I don't particularly care either way,' Lucius drawled and Frederick nodded. He backed up against some shadows and suddenly gestures to his side. Some of the Death Eaters murmured with surprise, he was evidently standing against something solid that wasn't moving. With a flourish he pulled a black sheet off an object, revealing what was underneath.

A young woman, around twenty years of age, sat tied and oblivious to the world around her. She was naked, but her body showed no sign of cold. Her eyes were wide, there were scratches on her face, but her expression was blank. Severus recoiled in distaste and stared at Frederick, fighting down bile for the third time that night.

'This is under the influence of the Insidious Potion. It was captured and given the potion, and is now completely under my control. Think Imperius people, think Imperius in a bottle, undetectable in the blood stream or the aura.'

_I could detect it, you fool. _Severus thought spitefully.

'This is out of it, this thing is unable to respond to external stimuli. Watch. The cold does not affect it. The bindings on her hand do not hurt it, the uncomfortable chair does not bother it. See? You can Crucio a person like this...and they would never know. Watch that expression, blank. Now watch as I curse it...'

Severus watched in disgust as the hypnotised mind seemed to show no response, though the body convulsed continuously. He couldn't draw his eyes away from the torture, as he so very always couldn't, and felt none of the thrill that he used to feel in his younger days. Finally after several minutes, after drool and tears were flying from the eyes, nostrils and mouth of the victim, he tore his eyes away and found himself mesmerised by Frederick's intense gaze. There was an incredibly sensual smile on his face, a luxuriant gutter of pleasure blazing hot from behind his eyes.

Another horror dawned on Severus, one entirely unexpected, entirely unappreciated. _And to think, I stand here so impassively, and yet this is probably what the young Miss Basilica went through. Frederick has done this before, he's relaxed, there's no excitement of the new with him here, there's just the lazy pleasure of familiarity. Is it true? Does the mind feel nothing whilst the body goes through...that? For if that's true, and if she truly was under the influence of this potion during her years at Moreberries, then..._

_Then she's practically exonerated. _

Frederick cut the curse off with a practised flick of the wrist. It was obvious that he was very experienced with this curse, with anything to do with pain it seemed. Severus hoped that he would be able to get away, without having to spend any time alone with the man again. Agonies of the last visit were still painfully close, the convulsions were getting worse and infinitely worse, and he had drafted five different antidotes, all of which might not have the slightest difference. He hated to admit it, but Frederick was a wildly disturbed man, and wildly brilliant. He had faked his own death, he had single handedly pioneered the effective use of the Insidious Potion (Severus largely doubted that the Father had helped all that much at all), he was at large and he had beaten Severus Snape. That made the man brilliant, also incredibly stupid, for Snape was utterly unforgiving, and no one ever got away with personally insulting him and escaping unscathed.

'You have complete and utter control. This potion has been extensively tested and revised. It is no longer fatal unless the victim drinks an entire bottle.' 

_No longer fatal? Fool of a man to enthusiastically develop such a dangerous potion in the first place. _Severus hid his distaste. He also remembered the one time that he had given Siana a very basic Wake Up Potion, very simple, and she had experienced a severe reaction to it. Very severe. It was simple fact that if someone had large doses of fatal ingredients over and over again, and managed to survive, they would never react to potions the same way again. A poison might not work, an antidote might inadvertently kill. It was the reason so many wizards and witches did not try to make themselves immune to poisons by ingesting small amounts of that same poison.

'Not only that, but it isn't very noticeable whilst the person is going about their normal life. Unlike the Imperius curse, which requires constant concentration on behalf of the spellcaster, the Insidious links you up with the victim. They answer to you, and only to you, and the most potent ingredient of this potion allows you to form a mental linkup if you will. You can convince your victim to say or do anything, and you don't need to move a muscle.'

Several of the Death Eaters shifted at this news, an excited, infinitely ominous muttering waved across the crowd. There were many who would like to get their hands on just one of the tiny bottles they could see lined up neatly on the desk.

'Of course the link is strongest on family members, but think of what you can do then, with family members. The possibilities my friends, are endless.' He laughed broadly and the talking became a lot louder. Severus turned his head away, he wasn't going to pretend to feign interest. None of the other Death Eaters would be at all surprised at his bitter attitude, he could just pass it off as jealousy that someone was showing him up in potions. Though Severus had to admit that he wasn't as jealous as he could have been, owing to the fact that Frederick was completely irresponsible and undisciplined when it came to potion making. He could still comfort himself by knowing he was thus far, the best of the best.

He turned as his ears tuned into a hissing sound, and he saw the cat in Lucius' hands spitting at nothing in particular, her fur raised on end. Her pupils were wide with fury and her claws were out, though she was not actually scratching the man holding her. Lucius was looking at her curiously. He looked up, saw Severus watching him and shrugged. 'She's definitely got her own personality...perhaps she's...hmm, I have an idea.' A smile crossed over his face and he proudly walked through the other Death Eaters in front of him, to where the blankly staring victim was still sitting on the bolted chair.

'May I try?' Lucius said, taking out his wand. Frederick nodded, cruel delight in his eyes. Severus steeled himself as he saw a ruthless light enter the eyes of the man he had once considered friend.

_No. No. No. Not Crucio, not again. Not on this poor person. Don't you see? Don't you know? She CAN feel it! She CAN FEEL IT! She's just locked up in her mind so you don't see what she feels! NO! No, please. No. No. No. No. _

Siana was going berserk, struggling and writhing about in the arms of Lucius Malfoy, gnashing her teeth together. She knew she couldn't make a difference, she knew that she had to calm herself soon. She knew that she was acting irrational, but the whole thing was bringing back too many memories. Memories of sometimes experiencing the Cruciatus curse more than fifteen times a day, her body convulsing, her mind remaining blank. Then there had been the other curses, other types of pain, and then the other, more physical tortures. She was locked in a nightmare, and the idea of the nightmare being played out 'for real' terrified her. 

'Cassia!' Lucius said sharply. 'I know something which is going to make you all better again.' Siana's gut twisted, she felt her intestines curdle inside of her. She froze, her fur still standing on end. Siana, her eyesight much better, her hearing much better than usual and her senses finely honed, knew that what she was about to bear would leave her in some form of shock, or something. This was breaking her down, and fast.

_'Crucio!' _Lucius commanded and Siana felt the jet of energy move through and then out of her, watched the poor, vulnerable, victimised person on the chair leap and spasm from the effects of the Cruciatus curse. It was traumatising, because she knew that the mind of the girl was also aflame, ablaze with agony, and that she was only able to scream to herself. The Insidious locked you up with your captor, and no one else was ever allowed into your world unless you could get away from the potion.

Siana was near passing out when Lucius finally ended the curse. Girl and cat slumped, defeated, against their confines. When Siana felt the kind and tender hands of Lucius ruffling her fur, stroking down her back, her eyes squeezed shut. It was too much, it was too overwhelming. The fact was, she wanted this kind of attention, she wanted to accept it as comfort. She would have liked to believe that Lucius was now comforting her, tenderly. It wasn't true, he was indulging, he had no idea what his cat was going through.

It hurt Siana more, to know that the comfort she wanted, she wouldn't receive.

'What about you Severus? Do you want a go? Hmmm?' Frederick said enthusiastically, practically jumping up and down. There was a hush of murmuring all over again, everyone wanted to see what the supposed 'soft' Potions Master would do.

Severus however smoothly removed his wand and pointed it at the vacant girl, a cruel smile curving on his face. Siana half choked and then the scent of him reached her, he was sweating more, there was a lot of fear on him, he didn't want to be doing this. Now that she trained her eyes she could see a tiny tic going off in his forearm, his hand was shaking just a little. She licked her dry nose anxiously.

'What would you have me do Frederick?'

'Bring it out of the influence, then kill it,' Frederick said smoothly and now there was more murmuring. Joy killing, it was excitement. The Death Eaters had not been able to joy kill in a long time, not openly, not among each other, it had been too dangerous. Siana watched as Severus' shaking became suddenly more pronounced and she saw him swallow.

'How do I bring her out of the influence of the potion? You have to personally code the signals don't you?'

'Of course. And of course the potions master would know something like that, being so familiar with potions after all. The action is very simple, just bring the hand that isn't holding your wand up and across. A simple cutting motion, like so.'

Siana did not avert her eyes in time, it was a motion he had used on Siana too. However the motion did not hypnotise her, she felt a small jolt in her body, and retained her senses. Relief flooded through her. _The cure really works! It really works! _Then she felt fear follow relief. _What if I have to go to another meeting like this before I make the Insidious potion? _

She was so busy dwelling on the knowledge that she had actually been temporarily cured when she heard; '_Avada Kedavra! _' come from her left. Her head turned and she stared at Severus, who had a look of utmost concentration on his face, concentration and agony. All the other Death Eaters were watching the girl, but Siana was watching Severus, who quietly lowered his wand and stared at what he had done. His cruel smile was still on his face, but his eyes glittered.

_How can I hate him? How can I hate him when he goes through this on a regular basis on behalf of Dumbledore? How could I hate anyone who went through this? _

She jumped free of Lucius' loose grip and ignored his exclamation. Siana walked up to Severus boldly and snuggled against his legs trying to offer him some support, some sense of _something. _He jerked away, and the other Death Eaters laughed. Lucius was laughing the loudest of them all.

'God knows why but she likes you!'

Severus bent down, and Siana froze when she felt two long, tapered hands curling around her fragile body. They were gentle and firm. He raised her and then examined her body thoroughly, a strange, unfathomable look about his face.

She thanked the stars that the cut on her head was hidden by black fur, that the bruises were hidden. The only marking he could see was the great cut on her leg, and Severus was not to know that Siana the human had one too. He wouldn't have been able to tell it was her. Instead Severus touched the cut with one very light motion, and Siana felt, rather than heard, him mutter the word 'Draco' under his breath.

'You have a sadistic cat here, Lucius,' Severus said loudly, to all the Death Eaters. He then raised Siana, so that she was looking into his black eyes. She was grateful then, that she had managed to perfect the Transfiguration so that she had the normal yellow eyes of a feline, not the violet eyes of a genetically defunct Basilica. The gaze was assessing, it was calculating, but of all the things it could have been, it was _not_ cruel. He blinked a few times, as though making up his mind about something, then bent down again and casually deposited her on the ground.

'That cat is a benefit to your spellcasting skills no doubt,' Severus said softly and Lucius nodded as Siana, shaken, tottered her way back to the Malfoy. Lucius accepted her with hands that cradled and caressed. A purr started in the back of her throat despite her tensions and she stretched languidly to try and relieve some of the tension.

'Yes. Of course,' Lucius said and opened his mouth to say something else when Frederick cleared his throat.

'Now, you will receive one potions bottle each, Severus I'll expect that you already know how to brew it.' Severus nodded and Frederick also nodded. 'Good, we need all hands on deck here...it will cost you, but we do not expect full payment. The next meeting will be in a week's time to test results, and to meet The Dark Lord. The Death Eaters are back in full swing my friends. Feel free to see me otherwise. Good evening to you gentlemen,' he said softly and Cassia jumped out of Lucius' protective grip again.

'Running off so soon?' the man said as he knelt by her side. Siana purred softly, snuggled against him for some cold comfort, and then looked imploringly into the darkness of the trees. She hoped he would let her go here, she didn't think she could stay a moment longer, even if she could find out more information for Dumbledore. Seeing Frederick again made her feel intensely ill, and she needed to throw up. Again.

'Well then my little Cassia, return soon. Thank you for your aid,' he said softly and Siana ran then, forgot her purr, forgot that she was leaving Severus behind, forgot everything and bolted away into the shadows.

It was a long time before she realised that she was well away from the meeting, well away from civilisation, and that she was in a position to Apparate back to Hogwarts. She transformed back into the form of human quietly, hiding herself behind a tree. She was breathing heavily and suddenly found her breathing turning into heaves, she retched continuously, bile, stinking, littering the ground. Her nails scraped the bark and she half sobbed into her body's violent movements. She felt wretched and very very alone.

She was almost back into the castle when she heard a faint rustle behind her. She jumped, startled and whirled around. Severus emerged from the shadows looking pale and pinched. She swallowed.

'Hey,' she said softly and shook her head. Her mind was blank. 'You shouldn't sneak up on people like that.'

'Where have _you_ been?' he asked quietly and Siana swallowed.

'No where. Where have _you_ been?'

There was a tense silence, Severus obviously didn't like having his words thrown back at him. Siana looked at him, heartbroken, tired, sick and scared. She was traumatised from the events of the night, and wondered how he was. He had just killed a person, an innocent girl.

'Hell. Good evening,' he said shortly and stalked away.

Siana bit her lip and then ran after him, her legs protesting at the movement.

'Wait! Wait! I'm sorry, I'm sorry Sev...er...Professor Snape. Sorry. I'm just...I'm sorry,' she said softly, unable to find the hatred she usually had so willingly on hand.

'I'm not,' he said softly and then turned. 'Where have you been?'

'I can't tell you. It was something Dumbledore asked me to do, it was nothing important.' 

'I can't imagine Dumbledore getting you to do anything consequential, that's for sure.'

'Exactly. I'm inconsequential. That's me,' Siana said desperately and then suddenly realised what she said. 'Hey...hang on a minute...'

Severus' lips quirked slightly upwards and then his eyes hardened to a dull sheen. 'If you'll excuse me, I need to release myself to the obligations of sleep now. Good evening for the third time tonight I'm sure. Try not to accidentally destroy anything or anyone on the way to your chambers,' he said softly, bitterness in his voice. Siana felt however tonight it wasn't personal. She didn't know what to think of that.

She watched him go and let him walk much ahead of her, until she could no longer see him. She then licked her lips and stumbled back to her quarters. Her room was deathly cold, but she didn't care. She crawled into bed without changing, pausing only to yank her wand out of her robes and throw it against the wall. It clattered to the ground and she murmured to herself.

'Sweet dreams,' she whispered and succumbed to blackness.

Severus did not sleep that night.

He had stalked back to his chambers, slammed his doors behind him and then taken three antidotes he was dying to use on himself out of his cabinet, and flung them, furious, against the wall. They smashed and shattered, releasing the scent of herbs and animal products into the air. It was a rare show of complete rage, but he needed to vent, and he didn't care at that point how much he destroyed. His nails clawed into his Dark Mark and his breathing was harsh.

_You've killed another person, another person to add to your tally, another person you can never tell Dumbledore about, another person whom you've extinguished. You're not God, Severus. You might be intelligent, you might be dangerous, but you're not God. _He swallowed. _I can't be anything less than a demon right now. And who says I'm supposed to be anything but, only the fool imaginings of a crackpot Headmaster? And then murder, foul fiend...I enjoyed that. I enjoyed it. _

He wrenched his wand out of pocket and threw it against the wall where his antidotes had smashed. It too clattered against the ground.

_I need to cure myself. I need to get these antidotes out of the way. I need to kill Frederick. I need to do a lot of things. And Siana, acting so civil. Apologising? Not likely. Bitch...she's probably in league with Frederick. Maybe she was hiding in the shadows for all that time, egging him on..._

_No..._

_No? _

_It's not totally unrealistic. _

Severus sighed. He didn't like her, but after tonight how could he hate her? She had apologised, she had recognised her annoying nature and apologised. She seemed genuine. More genuine than usual at least. 

'It's an illusion.' He couldn't seem to direct his anger at anyone but Frederick tonight, and himself, and at his foolishness in general.

He stayed up until morning, starting the antidotes which he hoped would stop his convulsions. He didn't want to think about Frederick, Dumbledore, Siana or anything but potions. The scintillating power of the drop, and the need for total immersion in academia was all the therapy he could have hoped for. He blocked the murder from his mind, but deep inside he knew that there would be a night, a week where he would vomit continuously, experience headaches and in general be tormented by the nightmare of his mind. It was just a waiting game now to know when that would happen.


	11. Chapter 11

**Spoilers:** PS/SS, CoS, PoA, GoF, FB, QTTA.. Written between Goblet of Fire and Order of Phoenix.   
**Genre:** Action, Angst  
**Era:** Multiple Eras  
**Main Character(s):** None  
**Ship(s):** None  
**Summary:** Siana Basilica has found the first of many answers, and Severus Snape has returned from his encounter with Voldemort. When Siana finds herself back at Hogwarts to continue looking for answers about her strange abilities, and her even stranger wand, she encounters a Snape entirely different to the one she knew before. The Death Eaters and Voldemort are hunting her, and she herself is experiencing unusual symptoms to the one thing that could possibly help her.  
**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Nightmares and a Boggart**

_Frederick, no. Frederick, no. You don't understand. Look, I promised Dad that I'd do everything you say. Why are you punishing me again? Frederick please. Please Frederick. No. No. No. No. No. No. _

Siana tossed in her sleep, the blankets fell off, and the sudden chill caused by the frosty early morning air and the lack of a crackling fireplace gave her strong goosebumps. It added to her dream.

_'Do you like the cold Siana?' _

_'Frederick, Uncle Frederick please. Look. Please. I don't...' _

_She was tied to a chair outside this time, the cold freezing her feet, making them go black. It wasn't the first time he had done this, in the cold, the threat of snow and ice all around them. Siana's breath would mist in front of her. Her voice would be shaking from fear and frost. Cold sweat froze on her back and coated her like terror manifest. _

_'Siana it's very simple. If you ask to take the potion, the cold will go away. Won't you ask to take the potion?' _

_'Frederick, no.' _

_'Think of it this way.' He was laughing again, it was all such a huge and comical joke. Meanwhile the glint of red from the clear vial, looked horribly like blood. 'Think of it this way sweetheart, if you don't take it, you freeze. Possibly to death. There's no great loss in that. Is there? Really there's not. We have another girl Basilica to start treatment on. Would you rather I do this to little, sweet and innocent Camille?' _

_'NO!' _

_'That's right, because you're not innocent are you? No. Of course not. Now, it's a very simple matter, oh wait.' He chuckled and looked at her feet. 'You're going a strange blue grey colour. Do you want me to explain the mechanics of frostbite to you once again?' _

_'You're going to make me do things, and I don't know what I'm doing!' Siana whined, frightened. 'I don't like it anymore! Dad isn't doing this for the Ministry is he? Is he? Not anymore. This isn't for them! This is because you like doing it!' she cried out and Frederick's face turned severe, cold. _

_'Suit yourself. Freeze. I'll see you in a few hours, hopefully death will shut. You. Up.' _

_Minutes passed of cold, minutes turned into half an hour and Siana could no longer feel her lower torso or her arms. She was desperate, desperate for warmth and she wondered if it would be worth calling him back. Seeing if he'd come back and help her? Would he give her the Insidious if she asked nicely? If she did everything he said? She couldn't bear it anymore. _

_'FREDERICK! PLEASE!' _

He could hear her. He was, he believed, doing a good job ignoring the fear filled sounds which had been going for over an hour now. Tiny moans and shrieks. He condemned his private potions making room, offset from his office and bedroom. The doors here were thin from years of abrasion from corrosive fumes. Sounds pressed their way through easily, he could have heard a mouse running down the corridor, let alone the sound of someone shouting out in pain.

There was only platinum cauldrons in here, anything else wouldn't have been able to handle the sheer amount of deadly or difficult potions Severus delighted in making on a regular basis. He was after all, contracted through most of the potions institutes throughout the world to make the most dangerous potions in existence. He and a handful of other Potions Masters, which included Australia's Gus Whittle, were on voluntary contract.

Right now however he had not been contracted to make the five separate potions he had been working on feverishly. It had all been going well until about four am when the first sounds had started and he had been distracted whilst working on the third potion. It had resulted in him adding too much hedgehog quill, and now he was uncertain whether the potion would work at all. This frustrated him, after all, he rarely liked to go out for potions supplies and working on five complicated antidotes, four of which might not have any use at all, seemed like a wanton waste of ingredients.

_Nightmares indeed. They would be nothing to the terror which I have to look forward to on a nightly basis. I can't imagine that..._ he paused in his thoughts, his snarl frozen, as he went carefully blank whilst pouring out a measured amount into the fifth cauldron. This one, the black liquid that smelt strongly of acetate, was the one that was most likely to work. He could not afford to screw this one up, after all, this required the most complicated ingredients.

_'FREDERICK! PLEASE!' _

He jumped, and the vial of gryphon bile fell into the black liquid. His eyes widened with horror. When was the last time he had done _that? _He swallowed and backed away quickly, subconsciously placing covers on the other four cauldrons just in case it started to...

'Siana Basilica I do not have time to rouse you from a nonsense nightmare so kindly wake up!' The voice slashed through her thoughts, it wasn't what she expected. Her eyes flew open and she gazed, unfocussed, at the blurred creature in front of her.

'Wha - ?'

'Good evening.' The blurred creature turned to leave and Siana picked up that stalk. _Severus. _

'Wait!'

Evidently he wasn't happy, he turned back to her. Whirled around. His face was a rictus of rage and his eyes were dull and black. They did not glitter, they sucked the life out of the room.

'You'd like to waste MORE of my time? I daresay...I never realised just exactly how selfish you were.'

'Anyone would think you hated me as much as Potter,' she said wincing as she stared down at herself. Where was her blanket? She looked down on the floor and then realised that she'd kicked it off. Her robes were pulled tightly around herself as she shivered from the cold and she blinked. It was not so comforting to be woken from one nightmare and thrown into another.

'I'd have left him in the nightmare. The loathing I reserve for you is quite its own thing.'

'I'm privileged,' she bit out, suddenly catching his gaze. Her own face was caught in a mask of anger.

'No. You're a waste of my time now WHAT DO YOU WANT!' he roared and Siana scooted backwards on the bed, her eyes widening with fear. Her mind conjured a horrible image of him with a wand, yelling a death curse. Then she noticed the wand in his hand and swallowed.

'Forget it,' she muttered, unnerved, and Snape's eyes gleamed with suppressed triumph. He was revelling in her uncertainty, he was probably revelling in any fear or pain she was showing. _You look tired Severus, you have black marks under your eyes. Have you been up all night? Did you have nightmares like me? Or are you trying to ignore what happened at that meeting too? _

'Scared?' he taunted softly and Siana swallowed again, realising how dry her mouth was. She shivered from cold.

'Well I hardly think it's love,' she said blandly.

'No. Accio wand!' he commanded and her wand shot from underneath her bedside table - where she had thrown it last - into his hand. Siana now sat completely upright, moving to stand. Her eyes narrowed.

'Give it back.'

'You're a dangerous murderer.'

_Oh fuck off. Not this again. Why does it always come back to this? What about you? Last night? Is that not dangerous? Is that not murder? _

'That's not the opinion you had of me in Stow,' Siana threw back on him and noted with some satisfaction the way his eyes widened slightly.

_Ah yes. Sibilant Stow. Have you been trying to forget what happened there. Did you block it out of your mind? How we kissed and then I nearly killed you? It's okay, I've been trying to forget about it too. But look now, I've got a reaction from you. Bastard. _

'Did you ever stop to think, I suppose not, that it wasn't safe for me to openly accuse you there?'

'It's all sound logic Snape but I still don't believe you. You wanted me. I felt you. You were aroused.' _Just as aroused as I was. Why, WHY am I bringing this up? _The bed sheets were gripped mercilessly between cold fingers. Sleep was confusing her, her nightmare was confusing her, the fact that she had no idea what time it was, was also confusing her.

'You're body is attractive, on a purely physical level I'll admit I wasn't repulsed by you,' he said coldly and Siana's lip curled in distaste.

'It's a shame I can't return to compliment,' Siana bit out, hating herself in that moment more than ever. His eyes widened and then formed into a scowl. Her wand dropped out of his hand, the bang of it hitting the ground sounded like a door slamming. Final. Without another word he turned and stormed out.

Siana rubbed the back of her bruised neck ruefully, then bent down and gathered up the blanket. She wrapped it around herself and sighed as she stared at the empty doorway. As her legs curled under herself she hissed in pain and moved back a corner of the blanket, then the edge of her creased robe. She pulled back until she was staring at her thigh. The long raking wound that Draco had given her, was suppurating. Thick yellowish fluid was leaking out making two tracks down her pale leg. She tentatively touched the liquid and winced.

'Oh shit.' It was infected. The site around the wound was angry, red and raw. She bit her lip and wondered if there were any salts around the place. Sometimes, when her Dad had hit her, he had split skin and for some unknown reason she did infect very easily. Easily and quickly. She got used to dousing herself with salt from an early age. She didn't want to do it now, she didn't really feel like the sharp pain and it did look like it was too late for salt. Still, she wasn't delirious yet. She checked the temperature on her forehead with the back of her hand and nodded slowly. Nor did she have a temperature. There was still time.

She refused to go to Madam Pomfrey, there could be no chance of being found out. Besides, Madam Pomfrey might report the wound to Dumbledore, and she didn't want the Headmaster knowing that she had been captured by Draco the first time she had gone to the Malfoy Estate. She bit off a shiver and dabbed at some more of the mucus with the corner of her robe. It looked nastily sore, and it hurt to touch. She hadn't been able to sleep on that side for quite some time.

The potion had bubbled over, he had suspected it might. The others were still simmering happily and safely away, but the fifth antidote was wasted. Not only that, but now he was out of gryphon bile, and he had to start again. He hated starting again, it seemed like such a waste of time. He was a firm believer in getting things right the first time, that way mistakes weren't repeated, and you had more time on your hands to get other things right.

He sighed deeply as he made his way over to one of the uncomfortable stools that he forced his students with detention to sit on, if they were helping him in his private potions making room. After all, sometimes he did need an extra pair of hands, and there was nothing better than bullying a student for a few hours for the duration of it. He shifted on the stool and drew his legs up underneath him, rested his elbows on his knees and propped his angular face on his hands. He sighed again.

His eyes rolled to the left when he heard a small squeak and he saw Svelte gamely pushing the heavy door open. He wondered how long she had been head butting the thing for, but from the way she was standing, she hadn't been doing that for very long.

'Svelte,' he muttered and the brilliant red and orange creature looked up at him, eyes bright. Her mouth opened, her tongue lolled out and she scampered inside the potions room and flopped down onto her belly in front of the Potions Master. 'I thought I told you not to come in this room,' he added, looking down at her, his face tired. He blinked slowly and then his mouth slanted. 'Do you know what I did last night?'

Svelte rolled onto her side, pawed at the air playfully. She obviously didn't care what he had done last night. When he didn't respond to her invitation to play, she jumped up and ran around in two tight circles before skidding back down again. This time her plumed tail flopped in the air a few times. She was excited for some reason, he wondered for a moment, could she? No. Could she be happy to see him again?

Some unknown emotion caught in his chest.

He bent down and lifted her up easily with one hand. She wriggled in his grip, licked his hand frantically, leaving cold trails of saliva down it. She pushed her cold nose into flesh and he could feel tiny grunts working their way loose from her ribcage, so quiet they were hardly audible. He lifted her onto his lap and stared at her, a strange smirk crawling onto his face as she burrowed into his robes making delighted squeaking noises.

'Quite, assuredly Svelte, quite pitiful indeed,' he said and looked away before he could smile at her comical antics. After all, he didn't smile. Ever. Well, not unless it was full of malice and malevolence. Besides, he didn't think it would be appropriate to smile after he had just killed someone. Svelte seemed to sense his disquiet and her answer was to snort unpleasantly into the dry palm of his hand. He made a curled face of disgust at the wetness he felt as he pulled away.

'That was unaccountably disgusting,' he groaned, uncomfortably rubbing his hand on his robes and wincing. Svelte looked up at him with bright eyes and pawed at him. He shifted her away when her little sharp claws got a little too close to his delicates, but otherwise the texture of feeling something alive against him was pleasing. He rarely enjoyed pleasures of the flesh, whether platonic or otherwise. He didn't hug, comfort, touch, pet, caress, stroke...he did not like to be touched, and though he certainly could be sexual when he felt the need to satisfy what he found to be hindering hormones, he generally avoided thinking about his body.

So when Svelte snuggled against him, snorted snot into his hand and scrabbled at him desperately he found himself surprised by the fact that he was enjoying her company.

_And so the Basilican hates me, that's what you wanted isn't it? Of course. That's what you do Severus, you finely cultivate the hatred of others. After all, respect...you never asked for their respect. You're a murderer, a coward, weak willed. You couldn't keep her alive. If you had been more alert, Lydia would be here, and you wouldn't be responsible for many many deaths which had started such a long time ago, when you blasted an unborn baby into the depths of hell. Of course, I don't believe in hell. Because it's so perfectly reconstructed here. _

He stood and cradled Svelte against him, who calmed as he stroked exploring fingers through her fur. Yes, admittedly, he had a soft side. However, he wasn't about to go gallivanting through Hogwarts singing 'look at me! I have a fox and together we make the cutest couple! Can everyone say awww?' He had a reputation that he had to live up to. Not only did he _have_ to live up to his reputation, he _wanted_ to. He harboured no serious desire to become a nice person, a fluffy mushy creature that expressed love with fervent vigour.

In fact, sometimes he wondered if he could be _more_ mean to the students and still manage to get away with it.

'A Boggart eh?'

'Well yes. I need to keep in practise you see, er, we don't get much cause to, er Siana trailed off, there was something about the look in the eyes of Argus Filch which worried her. He seemed suspicious. A light in his dirty eyes alluded to triumph and her own eyes narrowed. Now she was concerned. 'What's the problem?'

'Oh nothing, nothing. There's no problem, is there my sweet?' he added as he looked at Mrs. Norris. Siana blinked at the cat, then swallowed.

'No problem?'

'There's a Boggart in the second layer dungeons I think, it might not be there now, it might have moved up.'

'Second layer dungeons?' Siana said softly, there was a second layer?

'Well of course Miss, you have the first layer, where Head of House Snape teaches students, where classes are run. Second layer is more for storage. There are lots of places those creatures can hide about. I don't clean there much. Nasty place, things hiding down there...' he said, his eyes gleaming nastily. Siana blinked again.

'Nasty things?'

'But if you can handle a Boggart. You'll be fine I suppose. Plus a Basilica, you all dabbled in the dark arts at some stage.'

'Excuse me,' Siana said abruptly, not liking his tone at all. 'My Dad was an Auror.'

'We've all read the papers, Miss Basilica, we all know what the Basilican line is capable of. Meaning no disrespect of course.'

'Of course,' Siana said slowly as she folded her arms. 'So could you should me where the Boggart is please?'

Filch nodded easily and went into one of his stark filing cabinets. There were manacles on the wall and chains hanging down in one corner that was heavily shadowed. Siana's feet shifted uncomfortably and she looked quickly at the door. She didn't get the sense that Filch didn't like her the last time they met. There was a rustling of paper and she noticed Filch had spread out a map of the dungeon layers. He crossed two marks onto the parchment with his quill and then handed her the map.

'You're, you're not coming down with me?' she said softly and he shrugged.

'The hair-brained students are hard enough to go tearing around after without having to chase after teachers too. That's the way it is. Now if you'll excuse me I have a hall to scrub.' He walked past her, brushing her shoulder softly, and Mrs. Norris' tail brushed against her robe. Siana frowned and saw that Filch was waiting by the door for him to leave.

'Um. Thanks,' she said softly and Filch frowned.

'Don't be thankin' me. You're about to slaughter a Boggart. Even if you are good at it, I'd wager it's still a task.'

Severus shifted and groaned when he heard the knock in his door and then stood up abruptly. His muscles ached. He had cleaned up the potion which Siana had caused him to ruin, fed Svelte a mixture of chopped mouse and vegetables, and promptly proceeded to collapse in a fit of spasms. Now his leg muscles were still occasionally cramping, wrenching themselves into pain. He had spent an hour convalescing on his bed, but a knock on the door drew his concentration.

As he moved slowly to the door he was aware that it was literally only a matter of time before he broke down in one of his classes, which could lead to one of the students being injured. He couldn't afford that at the moment. Even if some of them deserved it.

He didn't open his door straight away, instead he leant his forehead against the cool wood and let his tired eyes find the sleeping form of Svelte who was napping after her rambunctious play. He took several deep breaths, his chest rose and fell tiredly. Anxiety was starting to course through him now, since the meeting of the Death Eaters...the very first, when Frederick had, no. Better not to think of that now.

He steeled himself, then opened the door.

'Argus? What's the problem?'

Argus Filch looked around furtively inside Snape's quarters, his eyes fell on the sleeping fox and then he looked down at his own cat and smiled. _Now you think you have even more in common with me. Do not envy to be me, Filch. _When Filch looked back up, there was a strange expression on his face.

'It's happened. What you alerted me to look out for.'

It took Severus a few moments to realise exactly what Filch was talking about. After all, Severus had Filch practically on call. If Harry was in the dungeons when he wasn't supposed to be, Severus was alerted. If any student was lurking near his quarters, Severus was alerted. If anything went array in the bottom half of Hogwarts, Severus was alerted. He had to sift through and pick the one that was most likely, and when he did, he froze.

'When?'

'Not an hour from now.'

'Where did you send her?' Severus said softly, drawing himself upright.

'Storage. There's a real one down there. Wanted to know how she'd go,' Filch said softly, maliciously, and normally Severus would have laughed. He would have been amused. Not this time. It was simply too dangerous. He opened his mouth to reprimand Filch and then closed it abruptly. He had no time.

She could hear it thumping back and forth inside the cabinet. And she could feel something else thumping back and forth inside her chest. Her wand shook violently in her hand, slipped as her palms were sweating so much. In her pocket was a tiny jar that she wanted to place her quarry in, if the she made it that far. She was well aware of the risks

With a deep breath and a small whimper, she flicked her wand and opened the cabinet door. She had to close her eyes for a second, she knew exactly what would be in front of her.

_'Open your eyes,_' he commanded, in a voice that carried a smile. Her eyes flew open and she stumbled backwards, automatically forgetting what she had come to do. He looked as real as he had the night past, when he had tortured an innocent girl, when he had insisted Severus kill her. She shook her head, her eyes unfocussed a little and she started to see double. Right now there was only one thing she had to do, but the idea of voluntarily approaching the Boggart-Frederick terrified her.

'You can't hypnotise me, Frederick.'

'No. Oh, but there are so many other things I could do. Hypnotism? Such a cruel word. I wonder if you're still pretty underneath those robes,' he said with a malicious smile and Siana swallowed violently. Her wand clattered out of her fingers and she stooped to pick it up, then danced back more steps away from the Boggart-Frederick, who was chuckling maliciously.

'I was never...'

'No. You were never pretty under those robes. Too many scars. Too many. And besides, it was never prettiness that made me want you. You're rather plain you know. Almost ugly...but definitely plain.'

She blinked and then anxiously took a step forward, withdrawing her jar. The quicker she got this over and done with, the better. Her eyes were stinging and her throat was closing up. She had a sneaking suspicion that she was going to cry or scream, and she didn't want to follow up on either. How embarrassing. Meanwhile Frederick was slowly thudding towards her, puffs of dust rising at his footsteps. His wand was pointing at her, she hadn't even seen him take it out.

'Do you like pain, Siana?'

'No, Frederick,' she breathed, dropping her jar.

'I can still curse you, you know. It would be very easy for me to...well, why all this talking? Dear me I am such a chatterbox. Yack yack yack, no action. _Cruc-' _

_'RIDDIKULUS!' _

_'No! _' Siana wailed and dropped her wand. The scent of sandalwood curled around her and she could have screamed. If she hadn't let her wand fall out of her fingers she would have pointed it at Snape, and there was no way she'd get away with that. He'd suspect she was trying to attack him instead of defend herself. Perhaps she would try to attack him. Her last chance was gone. 'No,' she cried out again.

_And now I'll have to leave again...do all that work...oh god..._

'Do you have ANY IDEA how stupid that was?'

His voice assaulted her, even though he remained frozen. Boggart smoke was drifting upwards, away. 'If you must know, yes,' Siana said, her voice breaking from strain and the other effects of fear. 'Of course I did. I knew the Boggart would turn into Frederick, and I know that should someone chance upon him - they could easily believe that the castle had been violated.'

'Then why did you-'

'Go to the least populated area of Hogwarts during classtime when I was so very unlikely to be interrupted? I don't know. I honestly don't. It couldn't possibly be so that I could avoid students and try and conduct this safely. So this leads me to a question...how much of that, how much of what...what he said. What did you hear?'

Severus said nothing, his black eyes looked at her coldly. She tried a different tack. 'How did you know I was here?'

'Filch.'

'What? He tipped you off didn't he? You filthy, conniving bastard. I'd kill you with my wand but it's so much more tempting to just poke your eyes out and then stick the squishy end up your nose,' she muttered and stared wistfully at the wisps of smoke from the destroyed Boggart, making their way up and away from her. Away forever. That's it, she'd never meet deadline. She was doomed.

_Doomed. _

'Stop looking so melodramatic,' Severus snapped suddenly and Siana blinked in surprise.

'Excuse me? Melodramatic? Do you have any idea how bad this situation currently is? I may have to leave Hogwarts now, for reasons which only you're aware of. I CAN'T leave Hogwarts because I'm helping Dumbledore in something very very important, so in other words, you've fucked things up again Snape. Royally.'

'How could _you_ help Dumbledore?' Severus said softly and Siana blinked. Oh. She hadn't expected that question.

'Well uh, I'm teaching him the techniques of the second Animagus. What else would I teach him?' she added angrily. 'You know how talentless I am!' She moved towards him and felt the salted scab on her thigh crack. With a wince of pain she tried to turn away before he saw her expression. She felt liquid running down her leg and she wondered if it was pus or blood. She didn't really want to know.

Severus frowned.

'We'll do a trade.'

'What?' Siana said, breathless. Colour flooded her face, this was familiar. Too familiar. 'What? _What? _You want my body again huh? Well that's just great. You can't have me. I'm celibate now, it's official. I don't care about sex anymore, or ever, at all actually. Why don't you just pawn me off like you wanted to last time? That worked so fucking well.'

'I will make the Insidious potion for you, if you help me make a potion.'

_What? _'Okay. There were like twenty things wrong with that sentence. I'll list some. You don't want to make the Insidious potion for me. I'm evil. I killed your sister. I run around deceiving people remember? Also, I can't make potions, I really can't make potions, not only can I not make them, I also stop other people from making them when I'm around them. Another point, if I will help you? If? Help you? Isn't that a moot point?'

'Yes you're evil,' Severus said very softly. 'Yes you killed my sister, blasted her off the face of the planet, and as you said to the Daily Prophet the next day, you not only enjoyed every second of it, but you could have done it again and again. However if you have to help Dumbledore for whatever reason, then I want to have a closer eye on you. If you're close to Dumbledore I can't help but naturally suspect your motives. You will help me, and I will lower myself to assist your purposes, only because it assists a higher purpose.'

'How _noble_ of you.'

'Oh this isn't nobility. The Snape's were never known for nobility. We're underdogs Siana.'

'I thought I was a waste of your time.'

'You are a waste of my time, however perhaps you are not a waste of Dumbledore's time. I am aware that you are talented in your field, even if Transfiguration isn't anything to be proud of. I am also aware that Dumbledore wishes to learn on a daily basis, therefore your reason is sound, even if I don't entirely trust you.'

'What's this potion I'm helping you make? Will it kill the Headmaster of Hogwarts?' Siana said sweetly and Severus glared.

'It too is a situation of which no one must be made aware. Call it mutual blackmail, I know the secrets that you cannot tell Dumbledore. And now you know one of mine. The convenience here is that I can use your secrets against you...easily...frequently. Very easy for me to tell you something I don't want the Headmaster to know, and then manipulate you with the information I already have so that you don't run screaming.'

'Oh I like the sound of this,' Siana muttered but her hands slowly raised to her head. She shook it slowly and then bit her lip. She took another step backwards, wincing a second time at the raking feeling in her leg.

'You're favouring that leg,' Severus said, pointing and Siana shrugged.

'So? You're favouring sadism. I'm not making a fuss about that now am I?'

Siana suddenly choked and gasped as her back hit the dark wall. Slammed against it. She blinked stars out of her gaze and saw Severus leaning over her, his hands against her chest, he was breathing hard. Now it wasn't only sandalwood she could smell, but the kind of sweat that one exuded when they were sick. She wondered, was he sick? His eyes seemed to bore into hers and she realised suddenly that he looked angry enough to kill. Then she wryly remembered that he had killed with a straight face. So maybe she wasn't about to be killed. She blanched as he pulled her towards him and then shoved her back into the wall a second time. Her leg scraped and she hissed.

'Don't tempt me, so help me I'll give you something to fuss about Siana Basilica. You have no idea, _no idea_.' He paused, but he still did not let her go. 'Do not for one second take for granted the fact that I am helping you, for believe me I don't want to. I like you less now that I've met you, than I did the day you killed Lydia.'

'Let me go,' she gasped and he shook his head.

'No. No I'm happy with you here, pinned against the wall. It makes you much easier to talk to. Now you're going to listen to me. You are going to help me make my potion, and if we...'

'Does it have something to do with that, your, sickness?' Siana said and Severus dropped her.

'What do you know about that?' he snarled as Siana's legs crumpled and she bit her tongue. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth just as her leg seemed to tear itself apart yet again. She took a few deep breaths to clear her mind, white heat blazed across her vision.

'Just that, well. Sirius said something and...by Artemis, Severus I saw you, I saw you collapse. Remember? I mean, I'd want to get that medicated if it were me.'

Severus stared at her for a moment, saying nothing. She watched him as struggled to drag herself upright, and pressed herself back against the wall.

'You realise that the Insidious, should we make it, will be staying entirely in my possession? Your consumption of it, will also be happening entirely in my presence. I'm not going to give you the opportunity to revert back to your natural self,' he said very softly.

'Oh I suppose at least you'll know I'm not hypnotising someone else.'

'It will take some time to acquire it. I'm not going to watch you make a fool of yourself when you're so pathetic anyway, whilst you try and attack a Boggart in the form of your loving Uncle. Why do you hate him so much anyway? You were very friendly the night of the murder.'

'What? I mean, why will it take some time to acquire it?'

'I'll need to get it already made. There is, I'm sure you're aware, a severe ingredients shortage.' Siana suddenly realised that he meant to go back to Frederick and ask for one of the vials. She frowned to herself. 'You have no idea...' he was saying. 'You have no idea.'

'Neither do you,' Siana said weakly._ I could just change into a black cat now, and you'd see the scratch, you'd know everything. Would you still hate me then? You would. I bet you would. You'd hate me even if I saved your life. Which isn't likely. _'You don't know either.'

'Then perhaps we should just leave it there...' he said, his eyes glittering. 'I will come to you when I have acquired the potion. Do not bother me sooner, the less I see you, the better.'

'I need that, that potion soon, Severus. It's. Important,' she stammered and a heavy eyebrow lifted. He looked forbidding. 'No I don't mean. I'm sorry. Forget it,' she added, shaking her head. Her teeth clenched to stop from chattering with shock and cold. She had no idea what had just happened really. First her Uncle, then him, then this? It wasn't normal. Severus was already walking away, his cloak stirring whorls of dust.

'Th-thank you!' Siana called after his back and he didn't pause. He didn't even look back at her once. Her leg was shaking underneath her violently, it was wet and sticky against her robes. She needed treatment, and quickly.

There was only one person whom she could trust to go to now.


End file.
